Conversation Point

Common Ground

Former President Clinton has been in the news the last few days. Appearing in a series of interviews as he entered a three day Global Initiatives Conference, Mr. Clinton mostly has been seen defending his attempts to protect the country from terrorism during his administration. At odds with Fox Television's Chris Wallace during their conversation, Mr. Clinton was later postured against Secretary of State Rice. It is not uncommon for the media to highlight conflict whenever possible. Conflict attracts attention, and sells almost as well as sex.

What is more interesting to me is Mr. Clinton's conversation with Tim Russert, host of NBC's Meet the Press, on whose program he also appeared this past weekend. Mr. Clinton told Mr. Russert that the biggest problem facing the world today is "the illusion that our differences matter more than our common humanity." This simple statement seems to have been all but lost in the shuffle and squabble. The illusion that our differences matter more than almost everything else, especially our common humanity, is strong. We live on it, feed from it, defend the deep reality of it, and question the common sense and sanity of those who don't. If we aren't invested in this illusion, though, it becomes much easier to recognize the deeper truth, that we are all united in this life we live.

We all share some basic human experiences. We are each born, learn to walk and talk and eventually we all die. In between there can be hundreds of thousands of wonderful scents, sounds, sights, dreams, hopes and longings. it is among these tangible moments that we find each other, and grasp the reality that other people outside our own circles also enjoy sunsets and family gatherings. It is easier to accept that we are individuals with common bonds of love and forgiveness that are woven among us in small, yet significant ways everyday. We are more alike than we know.

And so, we also have Jesus' words to consider. "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12)." The illusion is that we are different in more ways than we can count crumbles at the idea that we might be able to try treating other people how we would like to be treated. It is an easy enough concept. If we want to be treated with respect, we simply treat other people with respect. If we want to be treated with kindness, love, dignity and grace, we simply treat other people with kindness, love, dignity and grace. How we think about other people and treat other people has little or nothing to do with how we perceive them, and everything to do with how we see ourselves. If we would not treat ourselves badly, we have our answer on whether we would treat someone else badly.

Behaving toward others based on what we would like takes all the guesswork out of any number of sticky situations, personal and professional, national and international. My guess is that most of us would like to be treated with care and kindness. If we come to the table with this in mind, we will be on solid, common ground, and be able to set the illusion of our differences aside.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 7:35 PM