Speaker: Vince Klassen
As the world starts to come out of the pandemic (fingers crossed!), I find myself reflecting on all that happened during the pandemic, and the word that comes to mind is disunity. It felt like the pandemic was characterized by one group against another
maskers against anti-makers
those who agreed with the government against those who didn’t
and more recently, vaxxers against anti-vaxxers
work from home advocates against those who want people to come back to the office
But in thinking about this, it isn’t a pandemic problem, the pandemic just seemed to highlight what is already there: a world of Us against Them.
I was talking with someone recently who is against modern medicine because they feel that putting man made substances into their bodies is harmful.
I listened to a couple fight about whose work is more important, the one who stays at home raising the family against the one who works outside of the home.
I had a conversation around introverts against extroverts recently. Whose right? Both are, but the conversation was framed as Us against Them. Me against You.
Take a second and go through your life and think about the areas where there is this flavor of Us against Them or Me against You.
at home
in the news
at work
at school
in your neighborhood
Where do we find conversations being framed as Us and Them? Where are we guilty of framing conversations as Me against You?
How do we overcome this drive in us? This disunity? How do we find those things that unify, instead of focusing on what separates us? How do we rebuild our society again in a way that feels unified?
Unfortunately, this trend isn’t new. We have stories from millennia ago about the same trends. Fortunately, for just as long, people have been thinking about how to overcome the drive towards this kind of thinking.
Everyone who is reading this has actually taken the first step towards a solution. That’s the great news.
So I invite you to join us this week, either in person or online, as we explore the ancient wisdom and modern research on how to find unity in a world plagued by disunity.
Hope you’ll join us.
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