Like most of America we've been consumed with the stories coming out of Tucson this week. So much has already been written that to add to the rush of words flowing across the print and digital landscapes seems fruitless, and I'll be brief.
President Obama said last night that “it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.” He's right, of course, but it's clear that wounding is what scores political points these days and, to our detriment, that won't end soon.
So what can we do to heal? One idea—not mine—is to form political circles similar to the faith circles that emerged after 9/11, when people of all faiths came together to try to understand one another. A "political circle" would invite people of all persuasions to come together and listen and discuss, without rancor, the issues of the day. Ray and I have been talking about this idea, thinking we might post it on our neighborhood Google group and see where it goes. If all politics is local, surely the healing must begin locally too.
Whatever the solutions, and there will have to be many, we must do more than vote if we are to breach the divide that threatens to become a chasm. I have no answers, but I think we must start talking.
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