“I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends… I’ll put it as urgently as I can: you must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.
I bring this up because some brought a most disturbing report to my attention — that you’re fighting among yourselves! I’ll tell you exactly what I was told: you’re all picking sides!”
For the first time since the leadership of Ronald Reagan, the President and Congress — led by 2 separate parties — are united. I know that may surprise you. The government is shut down, but they’re united. They actually wholeheartedly agree on something. They agree that the other party is totally to blame.
Yep, it’s totally the other party’s fault. And by reading several cyberspace posts, it also appears many of us have been seduced into the same line of thinking… One party is all right. One party is all wrong. How stupid can the supporters of that other party be?
The Intramuralist believes that this process is not good and not pure and not right. And since both parties are fully involved in the process, I hold them both responsible. Perhaps you favor one party over another. But recognize that both have contributed to this process… perhaps by current tactics… perhaps by previous budget approaches… perhaps by lack of them. Both parties have sufficiently contributed to the now.
“I’ll put it as urgently as I can: you must get along with each other.”
My sense is that one of our greatest challenges as a nation is that we are awful at appreciating different opinion. We fail to recognize that varied opinion has the potential to sharpen; varied opinion can ironically solidify what’s true. And yet, we’re bad at both allowing and appreciating it. Congress is bad at it. Pres. Obama is bad at it. Pundits and politicians and people on TV are bad at it. Arguably worse, we are bad at it. Instead of allowing dissenting dialogue, learning to be considerate of one another, recognizing we’re on the same team and thus cultivating a life in common together in this country, we work instead to squelch. Hence, we don’t negotiate… hence, we keep saying the same thing over and over… hence, we keep saying the same thing louder… hence, we play victim… hence, we become overly dramatic… hence, we trot out in front of the cameras… hence, we quit meeting face-to-face… hence, we work more to rally the masses than to solve the situation.
For smart people, we are not always wise.
Wise people on the same team do not pick sides. We are not a nation of Republicans and Democrats. We are not any 99 and 1% nor 37 and 63; we are not separate percentages. We are not the rich and poor, the black and white, the majority and minority, nor the educated and uneducated. We are not the Catholics and the Protestants nor the atheists and the Jews. We are also not even Patriots or Saints. We are Americans. We are cultivating a life in common. We live here together. We’re on the same team. Hence, we must learn to allow, appreciate, and grow from dissenting opinion — as opposed to squelch it.
So as for the current shut down, here’s the Intramuralist quick fix:
- Stop payment of congressmen’s and the President’s pay.
- Get the biased media out of it.
- Meet with dissenters face-to-face with the intent to listen better — not simply restate own opinion.
- Compromise. (You ask where can we compromise? At the very least, in this layman’s opinion, we can require all members of the executive and legislative branches to abide by the same healthcare rules they are requiring of the rest of us.) And…
- Be humble and quit saying and thinking that the other party is entirely wrong.
Such an approach may not quickly solve the shut down, but it would be a good start… especially for people who’ve forgotten which team they’re on. That would be the same.
Respectfully,
AR
AMEN! Send this on to Washington…House, Senate, & President!