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We live in a polarized society.

We know that what we believe is true. We oppose the lies of those who see the world differently from us. We have the right viewpoint – in opposition to all those with the wrong viewpoint. We are engaged in a battle between right and wrong, liberal and conservative, science and religion, labor and business, democracy and socialism, Wall Street and Main Street, Christian and Muslim, Jew and Arab, white and black, climate change confirmers and deniers, pro-life and pro-choice advocates, and battles on many other fronts.

We hold to our position because we believe that the stakes are high. If our viewpoint prevails, our world will be saved from the forces of evil. If the other viewpoint prevails, the world will continue on its march toward destruction. Thus, we must perpetuate our ideas and obliterate theirs, no matter what it takes. We must continue to confront those who would denigrate the truth, and by doing so denigrate us.

We validate our vision of how the world should be by dismissing those who lie. We call them “subversives,” “fanatics,” “extremists,” activists,” and “socialists.”

But at some point we might ask if our words of condemnation actually move our world closer to how we would like it to be, or farther from the place we want to live in. We have our truths and others have theirs, but is there a bigger truth and how would we find that? Is it possible that none of us have the whole truth? Is there perhaps some truth in everyone’s viewpoint? Is the truth personal?

We all want free speech, but when does speech endanger us and our world? We all want freedom to live our lives as we choose, but when does the freedom of one person lead to an infringement of the freedom of others? We all want to limit the incursion of government in our lives, but how much government – if any – is needed?

When our country was founded these issues seemed as urgent as they do today. Despite disagreements, our founders decided to participate in a dialogue to forge a framework for our future. But this practice of finding and acting on common ground is all but lost today in today’s political world. Is it possible to recommit ourselves to this model toward the greater good so that we can once again identify a common direction and move forward for the benefit of ourselves and our children? Do we move toward a world of greater respect between people by waiting for others to respect us or by giving it to others? Do we hope for others to find common ground with us or do we begin that process ourselves?

Perhaps we have more control than we realize in making our world the one we want to live in.