Common Ground.

Common ground when you’re gutted, scared, numb, grey, sad, or crestfallen.

“Tomorrow we can start figuring out all of the things we have in common instead of all of the things we don’t.” I’m indebted to Julia Turshen’s election-night post on Instagram for these words of grace.

And they are the furthest thing from naive, wishful thinking.

If the divide right now feels unconquerable, start close to home and in small ways.  Seek out those in your community who you suspect have another point of view, and listen. Even in blue-bleeding San Francisco, I remind myself, there are other viewpoints, right on my block, to be heard on a host of issues. Listen, gently. And then get to work.

It’s back to basics, and to examining the roots of things so we can understand better what emerges from them.

I’m committed to the idea of communality at the center of my life’s work.

Communication is the sharing of something. Our word for this activity comes from the Latin verb (communicare):  “to make common.” And it’s connected to our ideals of community.

Before we can impart, persuade, or convince. Before we craft a message or compel with an idea, we need to make common: to find some common ground.

And we need to do this to protect the basic institutions of democracy. 

Because if we are honest with ourselves, once we have licked our wounds, we have little other choice.

p.s.: The post I had originally written for you will arrive next week.