When we perceive differences of opinion,…
I played Jimmy Carter in the mock elections at my school in 1976. It seeded my deep admiration for this humble peanut farmer turned president of the most powerful nation in the world.
“We must find ways to re-engage across the divide, respectfully and constructively, by holding civil conversations with family, friends and co-workers…”- Jimmy Carter on saving democracy in https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/opinion/jan-6-jimmy-carter.html
Those conversations happen only if we start with a framework of kindness, thinking the best of people, not the worst.
Eggs = saving democracy?
My son lived in community with 8 other young men. He organized communal grocery shopping and cooking. They ate for an average of $3 a day that year.
They also practiced small acts of kindness towards each other. Sure, cooking and serving for each other once a week, but smaller habits like balancing the egg carton before its return to the fridge.
“Do small things with great love”- Mother Teresa in (for example) https://southpasadenareview.com/mother-teresas-life-of-small-things-with-great-love
By embracing a practice of kindness in small ways, we shore up our skills to save democracy through a greater challenge from this spiritual and intellectual giant:
“If people are proud and unreasonable, misguided and selfish, love them anyway…”- Mother Teresa
[Reportedly inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa’s children’s home in Calcutta, and attributed to her. However, an article in the New York Times has since reported (March 8, 2002) that the original version of this poem was written by Kent M. Keith. And there is a musical version at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWEqaLvvKvE]
… start a conversation anyway.
Photo by SAM Steiner, February 2022
