4 Comments

Funny, the timing of this showing up in my Inbox. My wife and I were just finishing up dinner a half hour ago, when we got into a discussion of why there seem to be few forums for intelligent, respectful discussion of the issues that divide this country. And yet, when reading your essay, I recognized that I've skipped out on opportunities to participate in exactly that kind of discourse...seeking to avoid confrontation or because the easier road was not to engage one on one. I hope to do better in going forward. Thanks.

Expand full comment

What a coinkydink! I'm glad I was able to share this resource right when it was on your mind. I suspect we are not a small subset of people. In the workshop we were tasked with asking a partner curious questions about a rather tame opinion. I chose the easiest one... whether I thought cats or dogs were better. It was stunning to me how uncomfortable sharing was and even more so, asking my partner questions about her topic, despite the fact that it was obviously not a contentious discussion. I've got a lot of thinking to do about how to be better.

Expand full comment

I was privileged to participate in the lunch meeting with Monica Guzman. Her book is fascinating. If you liked her talk or her book, I think you will find the non profit organization Braver Angel's of interest. https://braverangels.org/ They encourage people of different viewpoints to work together and believe that understanding each other and why we have the viewpoints we do facilitates that effort. I have joined Braver Angles and plan to get more deeply involved.

Expand full comment

I've been meaning to look into Braver Angel's. She definitely got me thinking and asking myself hard questions!

Expand full comment