Here’s what’s been swimming around in my head for the last year:
We live in a polarized world.
I think most of us are uncomfortable with that, and we’d like someone to fix it.
But most of the people who are trying to fix it are trying to force the people on the opposite side of the political spectrum to abandon their beliefs and embrace the beliefs of their “enemies.”
I think we all know that’s not gonna work.
So what do we do?
Give up?
I don’t think that’s an option.
I believe it’s not okay for good people to hate each other. Maybe we can’t stop bad people from hating each other, but we can stop good people from hating each other.
We can end the divide—at least among good people. And I believe we each have a responsibility to make that happen. We can’t pass the buck because, if we do, this problem will not go away.
How do we do that?
I may not have the complete answer, but I certainly know how to help Christian believers end the divide. I know how to solve this from a Christian perspective.
Christians have the privilege—and the obligation—to love one another despite our differences. I have developed—and I want to work with a team of people to perfect—a friendship building process that allows us to build meaningful friendships across the divide.
Meaningful friendships across the divide will end the divide.
If you and I have a meaningful friendship, we feel safe with each other, we feel free to be who we are, we respect each other, we’re listening to each other and at least beginning to understand each other, and we genuinely care about each other.
We might not agree on everything, but, when we don’t, we listen carefully, look for common ground, and try to work out win-win solutions that allow everyone to go home happy.
We don’t hate each other because we see the world differently. Instead, we embrace and celebrate these differences because we know they can enrich us. We each have the humility to know that everyone holds a different piece of the wisdom puzzle, and only together can we see the whole picture.
And that’s how we end the divide.
In order to participate in this friendship building process, we need to go through some personal transformation ourselves. Another way to put that is this: There’s no peace between people until there’s peace within people. You can’t end the divide if you have an anger management problem. You can’t feel safe with someone if you don’t feel safe with anyone. We fix ourselves first, and then we fix our world.
I can explain to you how to move from anger and angst and all kinds of turbulent emotions to peace and calm. I have a process that works, but it is a decidedly Christian process that involves inviting Jesus into our pain.
If this interests you, the first step is to read my book, End the Divide, which is available at EndTheDivide.io.
If you’ve read the book and you want to be part of the team that helps me perfect this friendship building process and figures out how to scale it, then I have an early leaders membership package available at iBelong.io.
If you have any questions, let me know, and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Many blessings!
Dwight
