A reminder: you do not need to fix yourself or anyone else. You need to support and take care of yourself. (Me)
Not to be a drama queen or anything, but —- Oh, woe. In this January, 2021 fragile moment, divisive rhetoric and behavior is all too often a process we find occurring. Maybe it’s always been this way, I don’t know, but it sure seems like we’re more polarized than we’ve ever been in my life.
Pluralism means allowing for a reality in which we can all hold different beliefs, and recognizing that we shouldn’t impose our beliefs on other people. Extreme ideologies usually maintain that other versions of reality aren’t acceptable. Accepting pluralism when one is deeply ideologically committed is difficult. If one feels like they’re being told they are wrong, “psychological reactance” kicks in and we then dig in and become even more committed to the extreme idea.
Rather than getting involved in this vicious cycle, perhaps we need to step aside from the temptation to convince anyone else of the absolute rightness of our position, and instead encourage ourselves and others to engage in acts of self-care, and caring for others in our families and in our communities. Engaging in kindness every time we feel that all too familiar temptation to sound off . . .
It might be an alternative that can’t go wrong. And maybe, just maybe, in extending that kindness to ourselves and others, we will realize our deep and absolute kinship with all others, humans, plants, animals, the earth.
