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The Human Touch
By lindamuralidharan on 2009-06-13 11:33:02
There are many things I wish to comment on. I think intensely about events in Iran, Pakistan, the New York State
Legislature, Kansas, and elsewhere. Despite the press of emerging events in the news, I am most moved this week by the
type of experiences that motivated me last year when I began to blog on this site. I am talking about the benefits of
conversations among every day folk who have opposing political and maybe religious views. I am talking about our
tendency to speak at length only with people who pretty much agree with us. I think we too often limit our discussions
online or in person or by phone to this type of dialogue. I think it can be counter-productive. Far more useful and
encouraging are recent conversations I had with people who are in some ways polar opposites in political and social
philosophy with respect to my own views. For example, my brother and I had such a conversation over breakfast recently.
We get along very well and spend most of our time together talking about "safe" subjects such as sports or family or old
friends. This time we both broached a political topic on which we pretty much disagree, but we felt safe enough to discuss
some of the "grey" areas related to the issue. We clashed (politely!) in some regards, but with regard to some of the grey
area topics we found a modicum of common ground. Either way it is important to me that we could have this conversation.
I know that I gained from a clearer sense of his perspective, and it is possible groundwork was laid for future seeking of
common ground. Even better was a conversation I had last week with a man I hired to do some painting for me. Let's call
him "Mike". I have known Mike casually for several years but rarely speak at length with him. I know other members of
his family much better. They don't really agree with me on many political issues, but they like to explore our respective
ideas at length. They have warned me in the past not to express my views to the very traditional, conservative thinking
father and husband of the household. Somehow Mike and I fell into a long political discussion anyway last week. Each
listened very respectfully to the other. He expressed his very much to the Right interpretation of current events and world
affairs. I suggested there were additional facts that would likely contradict what he was saying. At one point he himself
said that maybe he spent too much time listening to two particular radio talk show hosts (of the so called extreme Right) and
to a particular TV commentator. He has a working class background and speaks very eloquently. At one point he suggested
to me that maybe he isn't smart enough to grasp certain things. I explained that in my opinion intelligence has nothing to do
with it. I said I think the mainstream media denies us some of the information we need to have a better understanding of
politics and world affairs and power dynamics. I added I think the average citizen needs to work really hard to find relevant
facts and viewpoints to help us make better choices in the voting booth or in our personal lives. Well, neither of us seems to
have changed our opinions as a result of the conversation. I truly believe, however, that each gained understanding of the
other person's sincerity and take on the world. We are no longer "polarized" in the sense of seeming to be in opposing
camps. Rather we now are more like members of a community with a common purpose. It is not necessary to agree on all
points of philosophy or on all stands on issues in order for us to work together to seek solutions. It is said that politics is the
art of compromise, and people of all viewpoints need to recognize this reality. Of course, each of us has the right to decide
when to compromise and when not to. Ultimately I think we all gain tremendously when we have more people to people
contact between people in this country and folks in other societies and countries. We all gain when people from the Left,
Right, and Center in this country share and discuss ideas with each other. Intellectualizing, following favorite commentators
and web sites, meeting with like minded groups are all helpful activities, but I want to add the human touch to our
experiences. And to me that means we are all humans in this together, and each of us has something to contribute so long as
we approach each other non-violently and with a degree of respect for the person or persons with whom we enter into
dialogue.
