“US AGAINST THEM” IS KILLING OUR COUNTRY
Our country has become more and more divided over the last year and it is hurting all of us. When we demonize people it keeps us from working with them to solve problems. This separates us from those we criticize and actually separates us from even people that we agree with as our being critical makes it harder to be around us because being critical of others is a negative outlook and there is less opportunity to be positive and encouraging with anyone, even our friends.
So why are we divisive? It can feel like we are helping to right wrongs and unfortunately we are often making it harder for positive changes and cooperating. It can feel good to believe that we are right and the others are wrong. It may be that what we believe would make things better if we could create changes. Instead, being divisive entrenches each side and reduces any chance for cooperation or developping a concensus on what to do to help make things better. Being negative perpetuates wrong thinking and wrong decisions and makes it easy for the others to discount what we are saying and doing as they further entrench their values and ideas by countering our ideas instead of possibly rethinking some of their ideas. The same thing can happen with us stubbornly holding on to our ideas and not allowing ourselves to rethink anything.
Well, how do we allow ourselves to choose to not judge others and to treat everyone with respect and caring even if we disagree about important things. We must be able to see that people who we disagree with about important things are human too. We need to be able to disagree with others without judging them. We’d be happier if we do this as we would feel more connected to other people instead of feeling separated from others.
