After you’ve taken time to listen to a person’s story, given them an opportunity to explain themselves and share a bit of their lives, what comes next? I’ve heard this is the missing piece that will move us beyond the current toxicity- we have to take time to listen to each other.
But what are we listening for? What are we supposed to hear? Is this supposed to soften the edges, move us toward some sort of revelation and deeper appreciation for where someone is coming from? Is anything yet to come going to be that much different from what we’ve heard up to this point?
Or does it just end up confirming what we already knew?
There’s something to be said for walking a mile in another person’s shoes, but how does this help us here? How would this help us turn a corner on polarized philosophies and entrenched understandings? How does this move us toward governance and leadership that reflects rational thought and evidence of a heart?
So the best we can hope for is that our discourse become a bit more civil, even as we realize we want different paths for our country?
How does that play out?
