A human chain on yesterday's CBS Sunday morning segment made me think
The people forming that chain made a quick decision to work together in a most basic example of all for one. Within minutes they formed a human chain and rescued a person nearly drowning in a half-submerged car. In this moment, the ugliness of Hurricane Harvey was no match for the beauty of our collective human spirit.
When the person in the submerging car saw that line of humans growing longer by the minute, I'll bet he didn't care about their skin color, gender, religion, or political affiliation. Likewise, if my house was burning down, I wouldn't be standing on the lawn ready to throw out any responder who was a Republican.
Wherever I travel, the area looks much more like a quilt than a blue tarp. I'm surprised how much common ground I can find with people. Certainly not all people, but most. I believe we have to start there....with what we have in common. I know loggers and artists who have core beliefs that connect them, same goes for some veterans and organic gardeners, some grocery store clerks and architects, a man on the road crew and a seamstress. We'll get nowhere standing in our comfortable little boxes, rejecting everyone who doesn't stand in a box just like ours.
Our country is in deep trouble. I'm absolutely certain there are a lot of potential solutions out there worth consideration, and not all of them from people who look like me or who believe exactly as I do. I'm determined to reach out and find some common ground.