Common Ground

 

It is early afternoon on the 20th of January.  I am trying without a great deal of success to warm up to the return of NHL hockey, the NFL payoff games don't start until 3:00 EST, and by default I have CNN's beyond-saturation coverage of Mr. Obama's second inauguration chattering away in the background.  As I have many times since U.S. election night, I find myself contemplating the dismal state of intentional mean-spiritness and partisan gridlock that has come to characterize politics---not just in the U.S. but, increasingly, on a global level.  

Even the polite Canadians are engaging: Ontario's parliament was so frozen by partisan sniping that the Premier shut the legislation process down completely months ago and now we sit, without an acting legislative body, waiting for yet another election.  Things are proceeding much more smoothly on the federal level; having finally gained a threadbare majority, Harper is essentially unbridled in his systematic dismantling of the social safety net, womens' programs, and environmental protections.  Back in the U.S., the tragedy of Newtown was in short order perverted into yet another vitriolic vetting about so-called inviolate Second Amendment rights that didn't exist until a few decades ago when the body politic allowed itself to be bought, sold, and buried by the gun lobby.

So here we sit, starting each other down and watching others do the same.  At times (when I haven't had enough sleep, exercise, wine, or the optimal combination thereof) it seems like civil society has become the oxymoron of the 21st century, and that somehow we not only allowed compassion to fall out of vogue but to slip from the lexicon entirely.

Then again, it is the start of a new year.  All things fresh, new, and ripe with possibilities---if only we chose to make it so (thanks, Jean Luc--I adore that phrase).  Anyone who knows me will attest that my Pollyanna days are few and very far between, while my donkey-like stubborn streak is on display with annoying regularity.  For just this once I am going to wholeheartedly embrace that trait and celebrate the fact that I am stubborn: stubborn and cantankerous enough to not allow myself to be permanently dragged down in the quicksand of closed mindedness, deliberate ignorance, and smug intolerance, nor to let my eyes or heart be so clouded that negativity is all I see, or all that I choose for my focus. 

In that spirit I would like to make a modest proposal---a sort of New Year's Resolution for your consideration.  Let us collectively resolve, at least once a week or more often if the opportunity presents itself, to start with ourselves and those around us to stem the tide of discord, to stop staring at each other and to start really listening to each other, to bring to our discourses the kind of respect and compassion for the other person and her or his feelings and viewpoint that we would have them accord to us and ours, to actively seek common ground on however small a scale, and to then cultivate that common ground so that it may grow into something productive rather than sit forever barren.  One conversation, one person, one small meeting of the mind and heart, at a time.  Let us walk not just with our friends, but also with those who we now call enemies in the hope and resolve that they might also become friends in whatever small way.  The journey of a thousand miles...well, you know the rest.

Happy New Year to all.

Kate