It is essential that we talk to one another other if we are to provoke and enact any sort of societal change.
This is especially imperative during election season — a time when average American voters are divided along party boundaries, rather than joined together within the boundaries of our shared interests.
Every four years, we exacerbate our differences and dehumanize our opponents.
We name-call and we mud-sling, especially through social media where we readily excuse our actions against one another, forgetting that those on “the other side” have names, faces and basic human needs not unlike our own.
It is through empathy and civil conversation that we find common ground and realize what we truly have in common. We can begin to see one another as human beings. We can begin to discuss how to change the world for the better — together. It may not be borders, culture or race, religion or ideology, but life experiences we’re often uncomfortable disclosing with peers.
A few weeks ago, a friend and I drove to a church and sat for an hour to pick up a food box.
The experience was emotional and humbling. We sat with others in need of the same sort of assistance for one reason or another. At first, I was almost ashamed of the feeling that I couldn’t take care of myself.
But when I began to open up about the experience among my diverse set of peers, a wave of reassurance set in. I realized I was not the first person to ever need someone else’s help.
That’s when I also realized we all get hungry. We all get cold. We all get caught in rough times at some point in our lives, yet we never talk about these intrinsic similarities. These critical points of similarity — the humanity we all share — are often dismissed in political discourse, as talking heads vilify the other side.
But our basic human needs know no political boundaries. They do not know race. They do not know sexual orientation or religious affiliation. These are differences that do not make any one of us better than another. In fact, these differences add and are essential to the discourse we need to create economic and social change at a time when nearly the entire world is revolting for it.
Some of us may never agree on every social and political issue, but we can agree that we are all fighting for the chance to better our lives.
Ask one another important questions to unearth the humanity we all have in common: Did you just lose your job? Did you just take out a double mortgage to pay for medical bills? Did you have enough to eat today?
These things happen to us, but we are so caught up in the illusory American dream that we feel ashamed to admit some situational shortcomings.
How are we ever to address issues such as hunger, poverty or fear for economic security through the recession if we never discuss our experiences with one another? If we never discuss our hardships, we may never call for action against issues that may be more widely-experienced than we realize.
When you cast your ballot next week, do not think of the person standing in the booth next to you, perhaps casting a vote for a member of the opposing party, as the enemy.
Instead, talk to them. You may find you have more in common than you anticipated.
Reach the columnist at kharli.mandeville@asu.edu or follow her at @kaharli
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