Seeking Common Ground

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Bundy militia takeover of a government building in Oregon. I pointed out the discrepancies between the way racial justice activists and these men have been treated by the media.

Since then, 55-year-old Robert “LaVoy” Finicum has been shot by the FBI and eight others were arrested, including Ammon Bundy.

It is always tragic when the FBI kills a citizen. To be clear: I am absolutely not condoning the death of anyone in this situation.

Since I began writing this sporadic column, I’ve had a lot of uncomfortable conversations with people who don’t agree with my points of view. Here’s a couple of examples:

One man hinted that I needed to, “Respect others’ points of view.” I would like to know what that would look like and how it differs from what I’ve done. Newspapers are public forums for discussion. To me, it’s respectful to use my tools to communicate publicly how I feel about news and events.

The other day, a woman asked if I’d written the “very liberal” view of the Bundy situation in order to be controversial.

I told her, “No. I want to broaden our conversation.”

I haven’t lived in this area for several years. Now that I’m back, it’s obvious my politics don’t jive with a lot of people.

I’m not crazy or stupid, and I don’t think you are, either.

However, I fully believe we need to create space for conversation that can lead to education on both sides.

A political election is coming up with the far left battling against the far right. I’m not an expert on the history of politics, so I’m not sure, but I don’t know of a time when politicians with such extreme beliefs were so neck-and-neck at this point in the election season.

This tells me the beliefs of the American people are split in a big way, and even within families there are strong political divides. Yet, I believe there’s some common ground between us. We each love our land and our community, after all.

Since moving back to the area and talking to people with different political views, I’ve learned a lot. I can’t say my views have changed, necessarily, but I can say I better understand other points of view. I have empathy and understanding.

In order to grow, we need to challenge ourselves and our own beliefs. I think it’s time we listened to each other and used our common ground to find that empathy and bridge the gap of understanding between us.