The Ears.

Rough approximation of quotes from the TV series Bones:

Hodgins: I just think, maybe if I scream loud enough someone will listen.
Angela: Well, you need to be careful that people don't go deaf.


Talking about religion and politics is dangerous. It's polarizing. It tends to cause people to pick sides, to divide. And when that happens, relationships can be broken down.

It becomes too easy to oversimplify people. To give them labels. Rather than try to understand a person and have real meaningful conversations with them, we write them off as "Liberal" or "Conservative." Or we define them by their religious beliefs. This tends to happen with the "War on Terror." We see America as a Christian nation and see all of Islam as our enemy, even though this is clearly not the case.

Each person in the world is a complex and deep well of experience, knowledge, and belief. To pick a single belief to define a person is ludicrous. It's like picking out a single sentence to define the writings of Shakespeare.

But it happens every day. If someone admits, "I believe that the government should do this or that," they run the risk of alienating their friend who holds the opposite view. If someone admits, "Well, I don't believe in this religion, I believe in this one," they can break ties with family members and friends. Even well meaning friends will spend the rest of their conversations trying to save his or her soul, rather than trying to be a friend.

So, it's dangerous to talk about. We try to keep it a secret, so that people don't have a reason to attack our beliefs, or dissolve friendships based on our differences.


But, if we can't talk about these things, what are we to talk about? Our religious beliefs define why we think we're here, what our purpose is. They define what our sense of right and wrong is, and where our priorities lie. Our political beliefs define how we take that sense of ethics and put it into practice. It's our only way as a people to work together to build a better world.

If we want to have real, meaningful conversations with people, I believe we need to talk about these things. But, how do we do it without alienating ourselves, or pushing people away? How do we do it in a way that builds community, rather than dividing people and building walls?

Well, we could start by not preaching at each other. We always need to listen more than we speak. And approach every debate you enter with the question "What if I'm wrong? Is this person sharing something I hadn't thought of?" rather than with the bold, prideful sense that you are infallible.

We could not use hatespeech and definitive terms. "Liberals hate America" is not constructive, Rush. It doesn't breed empathy for each other, it doesn't build community.

With all of our beliefs and knowledge and experience, none of us have it all figured out. None of us have the full picture. We only gain the full picture by talking to other people, because other people have different experiences and knowledge to share with us.

I can't tell you how many times I've come up with theories of how the world should work, only to have someone say, "Well, have you thought about this?" And it shapes my beliefs. That's how beliefs work.

I can't wait to see how I see the world in 20 years. But for now, I'll try to keep my ears and my mind open.