I belong to an organization that has imploded recently. We were anxious about running a large public event after the pandemic. We divided into two camps: some of us had a lot of faith that we could pull this off and that it would be of benefit to a larger audience. Others were more cautious and concerned about costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our anxiety got the better of us, and we were not on our best behaviour as we talked with one another. We tried to persuade the other camp. We stopped listening. We escalated our attempts to persuade until we were clearly stepping out of our norms for talking to one another. We broke rules of civility, and rules of order. We called the other camp on their bad behaviour, oblivious to our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It did not go well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now you haven\u2019t seen this anywhere else, have you? Republicans and Democrats? Liberals and Conservatives? Regional conflicts, pandemics, and climate change have us all on edge. Some of us want to help. Some of us want to build walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I tend to demonize the Conservatives. I try to fight that. I understand that at heart their message is, \u201cDon\u2019t tire yourself out so much. Stay home. Rest. Here\u2019s a tax break.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I lean towards the Liberals and their message: \u201cThere is so much need out there. Give before more people die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo which camp do you belong?\u201d Is a trick question. Both have merit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul Tillich, a German theologian, argued that all life has to wrestle with these two conditions. Staying home he called \u201cself-integrity\u201d. Taking risks he called \u201cself-alteration\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even a single cell has to deal with self-integrity and self-alteration. If it just sits in the Petri dish, protecting itself, never venturing out, it starves. If it divides too quickly, or spreads itself out too far, it dissolves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How much more does a society have to wrestle with these twin goals of self-preservation and self-alteration. Life is a dialectic: stay home, and go out. You can\u2019t stay home all the time or you\u2019ll starve. You can\u2019t stay out all the time or you\u2019ll die of exhaustion. Find a balance that works for you, of protecting yourself, and venturing out to help others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I belong to an organization that has imploded recently. We were anxious about running a large public event after the pandemic. We divided into two camps: some of us had a lot of faith that we could pull this off and that it would be of benefit to a larger audience. Others were more cautious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,8],"tags":[7,15,6,4,9],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peacemaking","category-the-herd","tag-connection","tag-dialectics","tag-differentiation","tag-family","tag-interpersonal-relations"],"yoast_head":"\n