With this Capulet vs. Montague mentality, where for art thou, 'good ideas'? The obvious example is our current national election. As an educator, I try very hard to respect all points of view, keeping my own somewhat under wraps. Similarly, our school hopes to teach our young people to decide on the issues, and not on the spin. We are finding it more and more difficult to have dialogues on separate matters because most things are bundled as part of an agenda that is 'liberal' or 'conservative'; 'democrat' or 'republican'. Heaven forbid that we land on an opinion that does not fall squarely in one camp or the other. If so, we find ourselves as the only baby seals at a shark party. Since when was our country about bullying those who disagree with our point of view? Have the open minded become a silent majority? A huge minority?
This increasing encampment and 'bundling' extends beyond political ideology. Realizing that many people came to this country seeking free expression because theirs had run out of room for particular beliefs, it seems obvious that intolerance is a sure way to poison a society. We must cultivate a climate rich with diverse gems of thought and original ideas. Every person should enjoy the right to bask in the warmth of respectful discussion, because that is the only way we learn. Our collective failure to listen pushes us further and further away from the ideal, and ever closer to the icy caps of righteousness, devoid of a single true and noble thing.
That said, the remedy for our 'global swarming' is to seek to understand, not to be understood. Let's find footing on truth and not on the unstable platforms currently floating adrift. To borrow from my father (who borrowed from the ancient Greeks), "there is a reason we have two ears and only one mouth..."
