I know, from reading my friend Kurt Harden’s blog, that we may not see completely eye-to-eye politically. But, a fact of which I’m absolutely certain of is that we could sit down around a campfire with two fingers of whiskey and a decent cigar each and come around to more that we agreed on than disagreed. And, with that which we do not agree on we would at least recognize that, in the grand scheme, we both want to be good Boy Scouts and leave the world a better place than we found it for our children. That we share this same goal. We simply have different ideas as to what “better” may look like but we can honor the other’s perspective.
Regardless, I can’t help but think of how much I need this right now. To know that my many friends on the “other side” of all of this would like to embark on some campfire diplomacy such as this with me. Creating the space for goal-oriented persuasive conversation so that “we” may once again become “we the people”. Because history tells us the consequences if we don’t.
Kurt, if you’re reading this, I’ll bring the whiskey if you pick up the cigars. Let’s build a fire.