{"id":14654,"date":"2024-07-02T22:58:53","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T02:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=14654"},"modified":"2024-07-02T22:58:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T02:58:53","slug":"where-we-are-this-week-a-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=14654","title":{"rendered":"where we are this week… a conversation…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Intramuralist, can we talk?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely. I’m not perfect at respectful dialogue. Never have been. I\u2019ve screwed up multiple times and still do. But there is no conversation we can\u2019t have. I really do believe we’re all in this together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks. I\u2019m struggling this week with what\u2019s happening in our world. It\u2019s hard to find a way to put all I feel into words. It\u2019s hard to find a wise angle in. I\u2019m frustrated and flabbergasted and disappointed and sad and angry and sometimes even a little hopeless all at the same time. I really hated last week\u2019s debate. I know, I know \u2014 it\u2019s been this way for a long time, but it\u2019s like all of a sudden, everyone realized it. I realized it. Before, I was able to tune most of the dysfunction out, not realizing the American political state is as awful as it actually is. I was able to find solace in one of the sides, aware that it wasn\u2019t perfect, knowing they keep trying to divide us, but feeling like I wasn\u2019t sacrificing anything significant. I no longer feel that way. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I watched a lot. Read a lot these past few days. And I found myself resonating maybe most with the words of Scottish historian Niall Ferguson who wrote this week about the \u201cknown\u201d finally being known. \u201cThe president is senile. The former president is a blowhard. Both these truths have been obvious for years.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferguson formats the painful resulting question as follows: \u201cWhy has the American political system provided voters with this terrible choice between two embarrassing old men for the post of president?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some will make their peace about our collective conundrum by concluding that one man\u2019s flaws are decisively worse than the other. Usually that\u2019s a statement about how only one stands for democracy; the other wants to destroy it. And then I remember how both parties actively worked to keep any unity ticket from being on this year\u2019s ballot. I have trouble with each parties\u2019 means of defining and defending democracy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But after watching the shots heard \u2018round the world last week, I know I\u2019m far from alone in being confused with what is good and right and true. The enormously inconvenient truth \u2014 as hard as this is for many to accept \u2014 me, included \u2014 is that it\u2019s not clear to me what good and right and true actually is.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not being clear on that doesn\u2019t make me wrong, misguided or delusional. It doesn\u2019t make me anti-patriotic, undemocratic or outright stupid. It doesn\u2019t make me evil either. It also doesn\u2019t make the person on the other side of me more educated, more enlightened or smarter than me. It doesn\u2019t make them more sophisticated either. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It means as they\u2019ve processed what they\u2019ve seen and prioritized, they\u2019ve come to a place where they have peace about their choice. I hope they do. I want that for each of us. For me, I simply don\u2019t have peace yet. And last week made it worse for me. What do I do?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish it was an easy answer. I wish I could just say, \u201cVote for – – – – – and feel good about it.\u201d But I can\u2019t. There are concerning factors about both people and parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so I suggest a bit of a humble listening tour. Listen to a diverse set of voices. The other night after the debate, I did something unusual: I watched television news. I typically read my news so as to better filter out the biased and more sensational voices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I circled through four stations Thursday night: CNN, FOX News, MSNBC,<\/em> and NewsNation.<\/em> It was fascinating, and it certainly helped with my processing. (For example, I perceived the perspective of David Axelrod, Van Jones, Dana Perino and Chris Wallace to be most honest and insightful.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So be humble. Listen to other perspective. Ask more than speak \u2014 especially when you don\u2019t understand. Ask instead of assess. Refrain from judgment of other people. And hard as it may be, remember we\u2019re all in this together, even if many don\u2019t want us to believe it is so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Intramuralist, can we talk? Absolutely. I’m not perfect at respectful dialogue. Never have been. I\u2019ve screwed up multiple times and still do. But there is no conversation we can\u2019t have. I really do believe we’re all in this together. Thanks. I\u2019m struggling this week with what\u2019s happening in our world. It\u2019s hard to find a … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “where we are this week… a conversation…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14655,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14654\/revisions\/14655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}