Our Best vs. Their Worst

Over the last year or so I have spent a lot of time thinking about how divided everyone seems to be and how no one seems to be able to communicate with one another. I believe deeply in spirited debate and that two people can believe very different things yet still be respectful and learn from each other. But I don't see a lot of this kind of debate out there. So I have been wondering why that was.

As I have pondered this one thing I keep seeing is people comparing their best with other people's worst. If I'm honest with myself this is something that I myself am guilty of so as I talk about this I recognize that I have been part of the problem.

The reality is that when we begin to compare our best with others worst we do much more than than just shut down conversation we also begin to label the person or group that we are disagreeing with as "the other" or "the enemy." By making this best vs. worse comparison we deny others their humanity and we deny ourselves the ability to grow and learn by hearing other points of view.

The fact is that I have seen this vs. attitude in many of the pressing issues of our day. In conversations about religion and science, in conversations about other faiths, in conversations about politics, and in conversations about theology. We can not continue to try to make ourselves right by looking at the worst of the people we disagree with because they can look right back at us and do the same thing.

If we can learn to disagree and have a real discussion and debate where we allow both sides of issues the opportunity to speak and truly hear, not just listen to, but truly hear both sides I believe we will have a new found respect even for those who believe very different things than we do. Even if we can't find common ground we can at least hear each other.

We live in a world and a nation divided, the challenges we face each day are becoming more and more complicated. We can not longer parish as fools by blaming one another for every evil known to human kind. Instead we must face the challenges together as sisters and brothers knowing that we are not always going to come to the same conclusions. We must remember the next time we are tempted compare our best with others worse, that in the world we live not all are guilty but all are responsible.

Rethinking Advent

I may be more excited about advent this year than I have been in a long time. I like many have come to dread advent because it meant having ten thousand things to do and ten thousand obligations. I'm committed to doing advent differently this year and I'm very excited about the possibilities that that will represent.

I've been inspired by a number of groups both spiritual and secular who all make good critics of the way the holiday season is done by many. It has been a good spiritual practice for me to reflect on how I have been celebrating or missing celebrating this upcoming season.

My plan is this; first be intentional about my spirituality during advent. I plan to explore what the season has to offer to my soul in as many ways as I can, to hopefully regain that sense of wonder about the season. Second I plan to be more open to those around me during the season, sharing my time and enjoying doing so rather than seeing all the extra things that take place during advent as obligations I'm going to focus on the joy of being around the people I love during the season. Third I'm going to do my best to be socially responsible in my gift giving. I plan on making the gifts I give unique, socially responsible and from the heart. Hopefully this will help make me feel more connected with those I am getting the gifts for, and I hope they will feel the care that will go into these gifts. Fourth, I plan to be intentional about carrying this reflection and the incites gained beyond the holiday season and into the dawning of a New Year.

So as I said I'm excited. In some ways I feel like a child again looking forward to the season, only this time it is not because of the physical gifts that the season has to offer, but rather because of ways the season can make me a better gift giver and receiver. The gift I hope for most this year is a Advent and Christmas season full of wonder, fellowship, love and new discovery.