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We may feel helpless to move the needle in our fractured culture.

While we can’t change others, we can exude caring out and into the world.

In time, compassion radiated outward changes ourselves—and others as well.

Polarization is everywhere; we know we need to talk and listen to one another, understand alternate perspectives, and consider viewpoints beyond our own. But it’s almost as though we expect the other (person, group, faction, party) to do this, while we remain exempt. We’re right, after all. If only “they” would see our point of view.

We may go days, weeks, or years without “third spaces”—the old village square, water cooler, or community dance shared by all—and nary have reason to talk to those with differing opinions.

As silos grow, we start imagining others as villains and rarely, if ever, consider our common humanity: they love their children as much as we do ours; they value safety, warmth, and comfort, just like we do; they can be kind to neighbors and pets just as we try to be.

Resentments grow like........

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