What happened to the ideas that launched the very document that we, as citizens of the United States, espouse as the formalization of government in our land?
We seem to have lost our way. We’ve jumped the train from the tracks. Our elected leaders certainly don’t use these ideas as a lens for decision making anymore. We don’t even talk to each other like we are trying to bring these ideas into existence. We don’t even seem to share the same vision.
Who wants to form a more perfect union? Instead, leaders discuss threats of secession of division. Others seem ashamed or suggest that we are to apologize that our nation exists at all.
Who wants to establish justice? It seems that only those who feel that justice should be served are exclusively for their own causes. They rarely, if ever, argue that justice should be served in every case where laws were broken. When you listen, you hear that our leader isn’t as bad as your leader because… We seem to have never left the kindergarten days of “my dad can beat up your dad”.
When is the last time a leader used the phrase insure domestic Tranquility? Our leaders spend time pointing fingers at opposition leaders. Shaming and blaming others for disruptions, riots, demonstrations, and unrest. They thrive on agitation, an antonym for tranquility.
Who thinks we should provide for the common defense? Nobody… because we refuse to find the common amongst our differences. We can’t define common anymore. Instead we spend time identifying ways to endlessely categorize our differences.
Maybe, we could all just promote the general Welfare? Nope. There are millions of years worth of reading the vitriol and hatred shared on whether your actions hurt my existence or vice versa. We have shifted from “general welfare” to “take care of me first”.
We can’t even get started on securing the Blessings of Liberty. Is that even appropriate to say? Blessings? And Liberty? We seem to have forgotten that the very nature of government is an arrangement of harmony between the liberty of every individual and the welfare of the general public. Nobody gets absolute freedom. Nobody gets absolute risk mitigation on life. We try to balance the two of those in order to live in a relaitvely peaceful society.
If you have ventured this far into reading this post, I have one question to ask you today: could you just try to get along with those who are different from you, just for today?
I have seen several posts with a variety of opinions on various topics that all seem to share a common request from every person offering their opinions. In a plethora of ways, they all say, “If you would educate yourself on what’s really happening then…”
Then, what?
You will suddenly conform to my opinions and your life will be so much better? Just read what I read, watch what I watch, say what I say, and everything will be fine… is that really what you are saying?
What if we tried something else?
It’s not new, but may very well be revolutionary in today’s world of “my truth trumps your truth.”
What would happen if, when you had a different opinion you genuinely saw the other person as a collection of information that you don’t have, as a resource of things you haven’t considered, a valuable individual who could add value to you because they came loaded with different information than you?
It is called dialogue. Give it a shot.
I love the way David Bohme explains the purpose of dialogue.
He says, “The object of a dialogue is not to analyze things, or to win an argument, or to exchange opinions. Rather, it is to suspend your opinions and to look at the opinions—to listen to everybody’s opinions, to suspend them, and to see what all that means…. We can just simply share the appreciation of the meanings, and out of this whole thing, truth emerges unannounced—not that we have chosen it.
Everything can move between us. Each person is participating, is partaking of the whole meaning of the group and also taking part in it. We can call that a true dialogue.
Dialogue is the collective way of opening up judgments and assumptions.”
I know that would be tough. Some might even say it is quite impossible. I believe we can still do it. In leadership, people do what people see. It’s the Law of the Picture. If you want others to practice it, don’t preach it, practice it yourself.
I know I am trying. Depending on the conversation, I am both successful and failing at my attempts. But I keep working on it. One of my favorite poems that keeps me focused on this path is by Sam Walter Foss. It’s a bit of a reflection on how I try to live my life.
House by the Side of the Road
by Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911)
There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze the paths
Where highways never ran-
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner’s seat
Nor hurl the cynic’s ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
I see from my house by the side of the road
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife,
But I turn not away from their smiles and tears,
Both parts of an infinite plan-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead,
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
And still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.
Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by-
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish – so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner’s seat,
Or hurl the cynic’s ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
If you ever find yourself for want of dialogue, just having a conversation to share what you know and hear what I know, I am here. I believe in the ideas inked at the foundations of the United States. I believe we grow when we encourage hard conversations about reaching those ideals. I believe we can only get there together.
Until that day, I’ll keep giving it a shot.
Remember, that one step up makes all the difference.