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Archive
October 9th, 5:31pm
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commentary related to civility and politics
I don't totally understand why President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. One thing, however, I do know, is how disappointed I am in a few of the close friends of mine that call themselves Christians. Of all my friends, my Christian friends post the venomous and hurtful comments toward President Obama. I ask the question why are the people I expect to have the most grace and caring are the meanist of all? I came across this commentary related to civility and politics, written by Michael Josephson, and felt like I should share it. Any thought on this are VERY welcome.
"The diversity of intense opinions on this issue assures that whatever reform results from the current political circus, lots of people will be unhappy and many will be enraged.
If we’re to remain a viable democracy, however, people who don’t get what they want must learn to live with – even support – results churned out by the meat grinder of the legislative process.
On the other hand, if the number of people who believe “There’s my way and the wrong way” continues to increase, we’ll be sentenced to an everlasting series of mini civil wars that will erode civility and widen gaps between us.
The antidote to this virus of self righteousness has three ingredients: respect, humility, and compromise.
Respect is essential to peace and progress. An ethical society insists that all people be treated with respect. That doesn’t mean we must respect everyone in the sense of admiration or esteem; it means we authentically believe that everyone’s entitled to their opinion, even if we think it’s stupid.
Humility requires us to accept the imperfect realm of political policy as a place where there’s very little right and wrong and lots of opinions on good, better, and best.
Finally, to transcend the chaos and conflict that prevent us from solving problems, we must be willing to compromise: give a little to get a little.
If we don’t encourage our leaders to find common ground and acceptable solutions rather than insist on ideal ones, then instead of a system where each of us wins some and loses some, we’ll have one where everyone loses."
