In another reading for my “Art & Asceticism of Dialogue” graduate course, our class was assigned a reading from the book, I Never Thought of It That Way, by journalist Monica Guzman.
The author actually recounts conversations with her father – both of them having differing political views and voting convictions – to exemplify her reflections on the importance of curiosity for co-existence (my paraphrasing). At one point, she says, “politics feels like it’s exclusively about stopping the other side. But at its core, politics is about how we co-exist wisely.”
I loved that definition! When was the last time this perspective was taught in a government class? Or held by an aspiring politician?
I’ll never forget something told to me by my own grandfather, who’s political views differed from his daughters in some ways, from my own in others. He said, from the beginning of this country, politics was not meant to be a career – it was called civil service. Ordinary people would serve for a term or two and then return to ordinary life alongside the community members they sought to serve.
Curiosity, Guzman says, is required for this coexistence because it takes courage to seek “truth more than our own beliefs… to set out not just to prove something, but to learn something together.”
Guzman states that none of us develop our values and convictions apart from our life experiences – and that differing values and convictions result more from differing life circumstances than being wrong or right.
“Where are you coming from?” is a question that clarifies values and builds upon living and striving for virtue. Virtue that reminds us we are responsible for each other – not only those with the same lawn signs or bumper stickers – but for our family, friends and neighbors because, as Christian we believe, we are all created in the image and likeness of God. We seek to live peacefully because Christ came to acknowledge the existence of sin, and especially of God’s love and mercy. If we don’t aspire to acknowledge that we all have room to grow, desire to give and receive love and need to give and receive mercy, peace will remain elusive – both internally and externally.
Guzman elaborates that behind our beliefs are values – what matters most to each of us. More often than not, even voting different sides of a given issue, we share the same values. What differs is the order or priority that we give to them.
What a difference it would make if we could be curious about why people hold to the political positions they have?
Take any hot button issue – from taxes and healthcare to immigration, abortion and education policies. Choose one and I challenge you to read at least three different news reports and editorials from different angles. Can you see any threads of common values? In what ways are both sides seeking the same thing by different means? In what ways do the values align with our Christian beliefs? In what ways do they not?
One of Guzman’s repeated points is that bridges are important to connect two sides, even when they are not crossed. None of us is ever right all of the time – the simple acknowledgement that we can learn from each other is often enough to build a bridge where previously there has been a chasm of distance.
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