3.9 Editor's Pick
June 24, 2018

The worst word in the world.

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Partisan. It’s the worst word in the world.

Take partisan out of it, and everyone relaxes. Everyone would admit they care. Everyone would admit that it’s complicated—immigration, legal and illegal, asylum, children, parents.

Put partisan back in, and it’s two sides yelling at each other—having taken their eye of the ball, which is solutions. Fixing things. Helping.

Caring. So let’s take a step back, and remember that if we hate abortion, it’s because we care about children’s lives. And if we are pro-choice, it’s because we care about women’s lives (not that we hate children, and in fact, sex ed. does a great deal to reduce abortions).

And that, whether we’re Republican or Democrat, we care about immigrants. We care about the rule of law, and we care about solutions, and we know it’s difficult—but at the same time, that illegal immigration is at all-time lows and has been for decades.

Partisan. It’s like pouring so much salt into a pasta dish that you ruin the whole thing.

Let’s let go of knee-jerk self-righteous hating on the other side. Let’s remember that, in fact, the other side is just the other side of the same boat—the boat that we’re all in, together, whether we like it or not.

Let’s remember to Make Love Great Again—to agree to disagree agreeably, instead of vilifying our fellow sisters and brothers.

Partisan. Not even once.

 

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Elephant is big enough that many of our fans, or readers, or friends—many of you, perhaps you yourself—are conservative. I like that. I respect conservatives. I’m a moderate liberal—”moderate” being just as important as “liberal.” Moderate, to me, means that I value an open mind, working together, and listening as much as I value my…values of equal rights, environmentalism, a fair and prosperous economy, denuclearization, education and healthcare and opportunity for all, and diplomacy before war—may there be peace on earth.

All those are important to me. But how many times have we seen aggression in the service of what we value? Our values fast become self-righteousness.

And so it is that I love dialoguing, listening, arguing, and sharing with our readers who hail from outside our choir. That Elephant is big enough to reach well outside our choir means everything to me—what use is it to preach about local food to a farmer, or bicycle commuting to a cyclist?

We effect real change when we talk with those who have different paths. And we effect real change when we allow ourselves to be changed, and further awakened. ~ @waylonlewis
May it be of benefit! ? #mayitbeofbenefit ? ? Now, more than ever, read journalism and subscribe to independent mission-driven media beholden only to kindness and truth. Without transparency, facts, and honesty, we are lost. Get our free online magazine only at elephantjournal.com/best ?❤

 

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I really do care, do u?
 
We all cry foul when it happens to us. We all scream self-righteously when it happens to “them.” Either way, joke’s on us.
 
We’re all a bit full of it, and we all have some good points. Moderate is the new black.
 
Talking is more powerful than yelling. Listening with attention is more powerful than soapboxing hate. Do not be silent—but do not allow yourself to fall into treating others like an enemy.
 
If we want our nation characterized by kindness, instead of vitriol, we’ve all got to get on board and practice the transformative power of listening over partisanship. We can afford to have honest differences, to agreeably disagree.
 
The path we’re on now—curdled by social media, corrupted by our own objectification of other—this way lies madness, as they say.
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