For me, one of the most frustrating and difficult aspects of the current social and political climate is the level divisiveness and acrimonious antagonism all too often expressed by those who hold opposing views. How can people who disagree have a civilized discussion and seek compromise? Is it possible? So many of us are polarized in our views. It will take a genuine - utterly honest approach from those on different sides of the issues, and a willingness and sincere desire to find common ground in order to reach sensible solutions to the problems of our time.
How to best go about this? Maybe it's not possible with the current environment. It would be sad, telling and ultimately revealing about the competency of humanity if the world community cannot come together and find solutions to the problems we face today, i.e. poverty, disease, belligerence in war, over-population, environmental (ecological as well as sociological) crises, etc...
Can we at least agree that war and murder are inherently bad for us? It doesn't matter what side of war we're on, or what relationship we have to it, it affects us negatively. You could argue that it benefits those weapons and "defense" contractors and investors in said industries. But that then begs the question: is it right to use war to make financial profits?
It's clear we all have a lot of thinking to do about what our priorities are. Is family more important than politics? Is Nation more important than Love?
Family or politics? I think it is more fundamentally a question of civility and respect. If a person, family or not, is not civil, reasoned discourse is impaired. Family members are certainly in a special class but there is a limit. Sometimes it is easy to fall into the trap of treating family in a less respectful way than one would treat a mere friend or even a stranger. We must guard against this.
ReplyDeleteI am distressed by the divisiveness into which we have fallen. We must pursue common ground upon which we can build understanding so that we can reach our many common goals.
they say that the best way to unite people is to give them a mutual enemy. Sadly enough, we have one with all americans republicans and democrats, conservatives, liberals, from all walks of life, if your an american - you better watch out because there are some people running this country who are out to sell us all down the river! They are anti-american and they are our enemy.
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