Someone
The strength of a choir is the melding of many voices. The music that emanates from the group of singers is empowered by collaboration. The choir loses its value and its strength if there are only a few people singing while the rest are just moving their lips. It is up to each of us to develop our own voice. A singular voice which any choir worth being a member of would whole-heartedly embrace.
The exchange of ideas and beliefs is the life blood of progress. Those who become enamored with the sound of their own voice and their myopic commitment to a belief or idea usually become a discarded footnote to achievement. It is natural to want to believe that your conclusion is the correct one. It is common for those who are attacked for their beliefs to seek allies. It is a reality that most of the answers that elude us do so because we are seeking acquiescence to a viewpoint not a comprehensive solution. Bipartisan ground exists in all issues when dealing with people who have the ability to listen to the reasoning and experiences of those that oppose their view. If we are brave enough, we only need to look in the mirror to discover one of the biggest reasons for the social divide. It is human frailty which causes us to vilify those who believe differently than ourselves. We all have the tendency to show some misplaced loyalty to a particular over-riding world view. It seems that in the daily discourse only a few people tell the story and the rest just go through their days regurgitating the words of their chosen mouthpiece. Opinions are as strong as the facts that support them and as fragile as those which degrade.
In the world today it seems everything we discuss is diverted away from viable solutions and morphs into a litmus test of political affiliation and subsequent character assassination. Truth is no longer the basis of discussion. Void of universally recognized facts, polar opposites emerge and camps are joined. The lack of recognized facts and the resulting division are the tools used by those seeking power. Finding that extreme vein of influence those hungry for unilateral control begin to preach a self-serving message; a cult of constituency forms. The members of each faction are people who may have once questioned something or offered an alternative opinion. Because an answer could not be provided within the limitations of existing paradigms, they were negatively accused rather than informed. The ostracized then look for and find other like-minded people who have been marginalized by posing questions and asking for truth. Self-ordained leaders now organize the group of outsiders and provide them with the facade of safe haven as they gradually move them toward the fanatical fringe; a place where only the others within their group consider them reasonable. Once the group is firmly situated at the extreme the powers that be feed them a healthy diet of that which now supports their cloistered beliefs while simultaneously stoking their fears of all who maintain an opposing position.
Listening to that which opposes our own view is hard because we surmise that those expressing alternative opinions are telling us that we are at best wrong and at worst ignorant. What we are being is exploited by those who benefit from dividing us. We unwittingly join a choir and then defer to those who have covertly brought us to an unyielding extreme. Our chosen preacher’s message encourages us to feel collectively victimized by those holding opposing views and thus allies in a wondering need for affiliation. But I know that a person can hold many seemingly conflicting views which are not intentionally polarizing but instead are only a search for understanding and subsequent change.
Someone who can believe in capitalism and still see a fundamental societal duty to have social programs to help the less fortunate…Someone who can respect the constitution but see the need for it to be revised and better defined…Someone who can support religion and at the same time call for it to be excluded from governance…Someone who can be anti-war and still respect those who serve in the military…Someone who can strongly believe that the United States should be able to protect itself from all enemies but seriously question the amount of money spent on defense…Someone who can support the valuable work done by police and abhor police brutality…Someone who can see the absolute need for gun control and also respect the right for people to own certain guns…Someone who can be in favor of the death penalty and also support prison reform…Someone who can want criminals to be punished but at the same time want certain drug related activities to be decriminalized…Someone who can be pro-choice and not be pro-abortion…Someone who can ask for racial accountability without being racist…Someone who can appreciate female beauty without being sexist…Someone who can ask for high standards without being exclusionary…Someone who can be tough and also empathetic…Finally, someone who can change their viewpoint when confronted with new information and not be weak or fickle.
How do I know someone like this exists? Because this “someone” is me.