A series of essays….
“WE NEED TO BE MAKING FRIENDS AND COMMUNICATING WITH
THOSE PEOPLE WHO DISAGREE WITH US. WE CAN LEARN
FROM ONE ANOTHER.” —BRENT HILL
Photo Credit: Kateryna Kovarzh // Adobe
….as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E Hughes
Just as we’ve adopted the commercial name of Kleenex as the standard title for all tissue products, or hear the prescribed adage of, “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning,” as consumers, we have come to accept lumping similar products together under one name or description. As my mom used to do when her blood pressure would rise over a wrong deed done by one of her four children, she would start calling all of our names, randomly, until by the fourth try the guilty party was established.
Equally, the political backlash in the U.S. has divided us into two groups with nary an inch of gray space in between them. There isn’t the bleeding over of thought, ideas, or good intentions that could define the middle of the road, any longer. Prodded by big money, we are losing our middle class and creating a country based on corporate and personal gains while isolating the poor and racially abused population on the lower end of the spectrum. If money equals power, then the power has shifted towards the handful of elites who hold the purse strings.
Without thinking about the ramifications of our thoughts and actions, we have adapted to good vs. evil, black or white, Right vs. Left, and damn anyone who might be left in between! Yes, despite what you think, there are some of us out here wondering just where we stand within the broader picture; many of us are willing to arbitrate political disputes among us without generic labeling while hoping against hope that it’s not too late for civil conversations and group discussions to guide us into the Promised Land of civility and understanding.
A kind friend at Sunday morning breakfast was gently questioning a mutual friend of ours about how and why he feels the way he does about his own political beliefs with the intention of drawing out plausible answers and melding ideas to work with. Without condescension as part of the equation, all of us at the table realized a modicum of insight into one another’s world. We may not have agreed, but it was all brought to the table without anyone losing their heads, literally. It can be done. All of us just need to take the time to talk, try to understand, and, most importantly, listen to one another.
I am an idealist and a dreamer and always have been. It is difficult to live in a world where a prominent sports figure, having allegedly abused twenty women, receives the largest contract ever written in football history and is punished for his alleged crimes by not being able to play in his next six games. Meanwhile, a nine-year-old girl is raped by a thirty-something male, becomes pregnant and has to leave her home state of Ohio to have an abortion in Indiana due to the elimination of Roe vs. Wade and the repercussions of this loss from state to state.
Where is the cooperation expected of rational human beings going about their day with the belief that all people are created equal? All people, regardless of their skin color, sexual orientation, or political beliefs? No, we cannot lump everyone under the Kleenex brand and expect all to be right or equal in this world. Humans cannot and should not function in this way.
But money can be such a fickle mistress, never constant or loyal in affection; likely to change frequently upon a whim. To remain loyal to obtaining money, legally or illegally, old or new, places anyone in a highly vulnerable position. At this point, one’s morals and standards enter into the relationship and serve to guide us in a positive, healthy direction. Greed can be a cancer, dark and cruel, serving only a handful of people for a limited amount of time until death do they part. The selfish desire for power weakens the body, mind and soul until each is an empty husk and incapable of behaving in a whole and rational manner.
Thinking about such selfishness raises my blood pressure as I mentally list the current oppressors who desire to lead us back into a time when men owned slaves, women were second-class citizens, Black people were considered inhuman, and only white men were believed to be fit enough to rule. It’s not necessary for me to give them recognition by stating each one by name.
Let us consider the art of a civil, respectful conversation in which a dialogue between two people or a group intends to build a better understanding; where all parties do not have to agree. What truly matters is the act of listening to one another and learning where we come from and why we feel the way we do about the topics being discussed. In this way, civil conversation focuses on process rather than results.
Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline E Hughes
All rights reserved
