We have lost our ability to communicate with people face to face. We have become so accustomed to online interaction that occurs without real consequence. Two people listening, engaging, asking questions, and LISTENING to answers can solve a lot of things. They can challenge respectfully and disagree agreeably.
Find common ground. Build goodwill. Work from there.
Don't jump to the hard ones because they're exciting, edgy, or somehow burnish your bona fides with whichever "side" you most closely identify.
Go for the layups. Learn to work with people of differing opinions. Learn about the people who believe differently than you do. Learn to find common ground. Learn to build trust and faith with others—allow them to do the same with you.
Being seen as a person operating in good faith on the easier things allows you the opportunity to be perceived as an honest broker on the bigger, more difficult things. This affords you the opportunity to be taken seriously, and that is the only way we solve the "big things."
Nothing here requires an event, a budget, or a title. It requires walking outside.
Engage with your neighbors wherever they are…the post office, grocery store, church, the range.
Listen to understand, not to respond. Ask questions to clarify, not to corner.
The ability to hold two opposing views in your head at the same time is the hallmark of intelligence and maturity. The more willing you are to be challenged, the more likely you are to understand differing viewpoints. This helps everyone find common ground.
No app to download, no group to join, no cause to sign onto beyond the one next door. Just a short pledge and, if you want it, a monthly nudge to actually follow through.
Now go find someone whose name you don't know yet. Your zip code just went up on the map below.
Pins mark the general zip code, not a home. Several neighbors in the same zip show up as several pins, clustered together — so you can see who's nearby without anyone's exact address going public.
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