{"id":329208,"date":"2017-05-27T01:00:22","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T23:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/usa-facing-the-challenges-of-dialogue\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T15:07:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:07:24","slug":"usa-facing-the-challenges-of-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/usa-facing-the-challenges-of-dialogue\/","title":{"rendered":"USA: facing the challenges of dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PositivePoliticalDialogue\"<\/a>Over the course of the past year<\/strong>, ideological tension that had been simmering for decades broke out into the open. In the months leading up to the November election, people from every position on the political spectrum expressed deep concerns about the direction the country was heading. Throughout the States,<\/strong> strong and contrasting emotions generated a general sense of unease and division. Such feelings affected relationships in local Focolare<\/a> communities as well.\u00a0 Many felt that the presidential election campaign forced them to make impossibly difficult choices.\u00a0 Conversations became heated and difficult.\u00a0 Anticipating this possibility, throughout 2015 the Focolare Movement had sponsored workshops based on the New City Press book, Five Steps to Positive Political Dialogue<\/em>. During these workshops, participants learned and practiced the necessary skills for positive dialogue across political differences.\u00a0 The \u201cfive steps\u201d\u00a0 include: <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Believe that a Positive Vision is Possible<\/li>\n
  2. Practice Communication Skills Based on Love<\/li>\n
  3. Understand Where There Is Room for Compromise\u2014and Not<\/li>\n
  4. Recognize Suffering as a Springboard for Love<\/li>\n
  5. Build Relationships with Positive Action.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    John Chesser (Iowa)<\/strong>: \u201cPeople paired off and they chose to discuss a topic on which they strongly disagreed. The twist was first one person shared their view and then the other\u00a0 person\u00a0 had\u00a0 to\u00a0 repeat\u00a0 their\u00a0 view\u00a0 back\u00a0 before\u00a0 sharing\u00a0 his\u00a0 or her own\u00a0 view.\u00a0 The results were really interesting.\u00a0 The exercise allowed people to gain an appreciation\u00a0 not\u00a0 just\u00a0 for\u00a0 the\u00a0 other person’s point of view but to reflect and reconsider their own view. Of course we didn\u2019t solve the world\u2019s problems in the workshops but we did find new hope and new tools that helped us to see that maybe it\u2019s possible for us to solve these problems with dialogue.\u201d As the November 2016 election drew near,<\/strong> the tension between those who held opposing opinions seemed to increase by the day, and conflict became more and more pronounced in personal life, in workplaces, and in social media communications. Marilyn Boesch (Maryland)<\/strong>: \u201cI was very agitated. And I remember examining my conscience, affirming my desire to work for unity, to be a person that builds bridges, not a person resigned to these divisions.\u201d Marijo\u00a0 Dulay (New\u00a0 York)<\/strong>: \u201cAfter\u00a0 a\u00a0 few\u00a0 mistakes\u00a0 I\u00a0 learned\u00a0 to\u00a0 be\u00a0 more\u00a0 sensitive\u00a0 in\u00a0 the comments that I posted\u00a0 on\u00a0 Facebook\u00a0 so as not to hurt the\u00a0 people\u00a0 who\u00a0 differed\u00a0 from\u00a0 my perspective.\u201d Simona Lucchi (Georgia)<\/strong>: \u201cI realized that all my preaching and all my yelling wasn\u2019t doing any good because either way it wasn\u2019t changing what people believed in. So I took the stance of sitting back in order to listen.\u00a0 When I stopped talking to actually listen, I found that I had more in common than I thought with the people I disagreed with.\u201d \"636775528\"<\/strong>Amid the confusion<\/strong>, the positive proposals for dialogue presented in academic environments were well received. For example, at Fordham Law School<\/em>, in the heart of Manhattan, New York, Ana Renata Dias<\/strong>, the Director of the Institute on Religion, Law & Lawyer\u2019s Work, offered a workshop that aimed to promote open and constructive cultural dialogue by honing the participants\u2019 listening skills. \u201cSeveral of the participants said they had come to the workshop because they wanted to understand if dialogue is really possible among such polarization.\u201d After a listening to a presentation<\/strong> with practical suggestions for approaching these difficult conversations, participants rolled up their sleeves and got to work, discovering together that even those who were most impassioned could find ways to exchange contrasting views without the conversation degenerating into a fight. Even those who said they were less than convinced by the workshop felt more hopeful. Two months later, following the inauguration of the new president, cultural tensions became more and more pronounced.\u00a0 Students at Georgetown Law School<\/em> in Washington, DC were searching for ways to navigate these tumultuous waters. Amy Uelmen, author of the book, Five Steps to Positive Political Dialogue: Insights and Examples<\/em>, proposed to her class a way forward. \"Austin<\/strong>\u201cWe realized that often in any conversation there will be caricatures, mischaracterizations, misunderstandings, and information that is simply wrong.\u00a0 We agreed all together to be open to correction and to working out our difficulties when different perspectives collide.\u201d <\/em> In Arkansas, a traditionally conservative state<\/strong>, some were enthusiastic about the election of the new president while others were angry.\u00a0 Austin Kellerman<\/strong> leads a newsroom in Little Rock, the state\u2019s capital. Together, he and his colleagues decided to launch an appeal for unity.\u00a0 \u201cOur team of journalists felt like we had the chance to be a voice for our city, so in one of the more heated moments one of our more experienced\u00a0 reporters\u00a0 put\u00a0 together\u00a0 a commentary calling for unity and an open mind: he said, \u2018There is no them, no us. There is We. We the people.\u2019\u201d \u201cObviously, this alone will not fix things or change anybody’s view,\u201d Kellerman continues, \u201cbut hopefully it gives people permission to think beyond their singular view. We are going to try to keep the dialogue going and staying faithful to representing all sides and voices.\u201d Source: New City Press (New York)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    During the presidential campaign season, the Focolare community in the USA worked together to propose positive and constructive methods for dialogue across the divide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}