Last Wednesday we learned How to Become Braver Angels (BA) from our speaker, Denver-based BA Ambassador, Dr Will Robinson. He started with a metaphor (sadly familiar to some of us) of terminal marriage counseling to explain the current political divide, why it’s so hard to come together but what BA can do to help.
The current political divide in this country can be thought of as a marriage gone broken. As observed in marriage counseling, the partners are often
focused on issues which have become hot topics charged with emotion. They ignore all that’s good in the marriage and fail to share blame for what’s not.
About 160 years ago there was another “marriage” that was very broken. In his first inaugural address on the eve of our Civil War President Abe Lincoln appealed to the “better angels among us”, hoping to avoid what happened next. But there is another quote from Abe - “I don’t much like that person; I need to get to know that person better”. That’s the concept behind Braver Angels as they bring the two sides together building a bridge where there isn’t a bridge.
Our speaker raised the question - Why am I qualified to speak at RCFC today? I have no political experience nor political education. But I, like so many other grass roots folks, have the compassion to do what is necessary to bridge our current political polarization. Rotary and BA have a “strategic alliance” with many shared goals - we both desire peace, prosperity, and betterment of community. Historically in America we have always had at least two 2 sets of beliefs –
Torys & Whigs have been replaced by Republicans and Democrats. Different views (polarization) have been good for America. Tip O'Neil (Democratic speaker of the House) and Republican President Ronald Reagan met frequently and informally to forge legislation for the good of the country and their constituents. Contrast this with “affective” polarization (remember the broken marriage metaphor) when an issue to discuss and resolve becomes overwhelmed by emotion - we hear something, we react, we jump into a minefield - yelling, not listening, digging into our positions. This is the polarization we are trying to avoid at Braver Angels. We learn we have more in common than we thought – this is experienced in virtually every BA workshop. As we respectively listen to “the other side” we discover broader approaches to “hot button” and important problems like gun control and immigration.
We show respect by listening to one another and this usually leads to building trust. “I appreciate what you said, I’d like to bring up another point” and gradually you travel away from polarization. That person on the “other side” isn’t that bad. I can now share with my “echo chamber” friends and maybe we can entertain some points from the other side. We have started to depolarize America.
Our mission at BA is to “cross over the continental divide”, allow people to unite and take action to create lasting change (sound like Rotary?). Even pursue others, bring up politics and then listen respectively. We can grow,
pair up and experience. We can eliminate “affective polarization”. After attending a BA workshop, the majority say they have a better understanding and increased positive attitudes. The goal is not to change
your view on issues but to change your view of others. Over time we can go from “they are our enemies” to “they have a lot to contribute”.
Be aware of your news media sources (a slide showed the political bent of the most popular news outlets). The personal call from our speaker was “if not me, who? If not now, when?”
Better Angels currently has 12,000 members; every workshop (now more than 3000) is led by a Red and a Blue facilitator. Members are “grassroots” and come from all walks of life – neuroscientists to janitors. Rotarians should be especially qualified with their relatively greater education and experience.
There are sources on the web for further information starting with Braverangels.org. One of our members reported there is an upcoming workshop locally.