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Sandra Lynn Hutchison is a writer, teacher and the editor of elixir-journal.org. She lives in Orono and teaches in the Wilmette Institute and the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education.
Some have been disheartened and others heartened by the results of the Nov. 5 election, but for all of us the post-election question is the same: What do we do now? We have a new president. We will have new policies, policies that we, at the grassroots level, can strive to influence — change or support — depending on how they fit with our vision of the future of our country.
But beyond such activism, how do we live? How do we move through the world? How do we comport ourselves in communities that are often fractious, divided by loyalties so intense that they can serve as points of endless contention, a barrier to connection of any kind?
Yet the truth of our relationship with one another is as John Donne put it several centuries ago in words often quoted: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.” We cannot live well alone, estranged from our fellow human beings. How then, in these contentious times, can we find a way to live together?
Let us remember, though we may see the world differently from our neighbors, though we may have different conceptions of what is needed now, what binds us is greater than what divides us; namely, our common humanity, the earth that is our shared home. We are organically connected in the great web of life. We are, in the words of one visionary, “the leaves of one tree and the fruits of one branch.” We are one people living on one planet, and I believe that the greatness of our communities can be measured by the degree of compassion we show for one another.
What do we do now? We do what people of goodwill have been doing all along: strive to build unified, resilient communities dedicated to the good of all. How do we begin? By getting to know our neighbors. By taking time to understand how they see the world, by seeking common ground, by talking about what we can do for our communities. What is needed? How can it be done? How can we do it together?
Conversations are important. Openness is essential, so we can learn from each other’s perspectives; alone, no one can see the entire picture. To build strong unified communities, we must reach out, get to know one another. And we must learn to have a certain kind of conversation, one that rises above our differences, that transcends divisive political rhetoric, the kind of conversation that stems from an awareness that we are all here on this earth only for a short time and we need to make that time the best it can be.
This kind of conversation is one that uplifts rather than alienates. It makes us feel a part of something rather than isolated, alone — an island. It is a conversation in which an effort is made to identify shared goals, a conversation that happens when we ask ourselves what steps we can take at the grassroots level to address our common concerns about our communities. Do we want to establish a community garden in our neighborhood for those who are food insecure? Do we want to create positive social spaces for our teenagers? There are so many things we might do together.
Conversation is a simple form of activism, a remedy for healing the wounds inflicted on our communities by divisive political rhetoric. Let us begin to heal those wounds by intimate, uplifting conversations in which we come to know one another, see one another, feel concern for one another as sojourners on this planet of ours, travelers, people who are just passing through and want to leave behind a legacy of well-being for all.
