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DARE TO LISTEN AND LEARN
People see things differently. Differences of opinions are a matter of course. Healthy dialogue about ideas often reveals a more wholistic version of the truth. Bottom line, it's good for us to talk with others who hold different beliefs or take another position on an issue to widen or sharpen our perspective.
However, when conflicts are personalized, what should be an exchange of ideas can become a battle against an adversary. We don't aim to persuade or enlighten but to destroy the person altogether. We do this by name-calling, insulting, baiting, belittling, and demonizing. Behavior unacceptable on a playground becomes routinely practiced by grownups. This can lead us to turn away from the public forum altogether and abdicate our place in the national conversation. We cannot afford to do this.
Pope Francis in his 2015 address to the U.S. Congress presented an alternative vision: "The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarization. . . . We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within." This is something that we as a people must reject, says Francis. We are invited into a new response: "One of hope and healing" and a new dynamic: "A renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good." Do we dare?
—Alice Camille,
reprinted with permission from TrueQuest Communications
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