Healing Our Divides

I used to dread election seasons. The ugly partisan politics. The attack ads. The endless requests for campaign donations. The debates and fact checks, polls and analysis. They seemed to bring out the worst in all of us. And 2016 took all of that to an unprecedented and dangerous low.

But something changed for me with that election.

Don't get me wrong. I've been sickened and outraged on a regular basis. But I've also been oddly energized. Despite and because of having one, now two small children, I've never taken my role as a citizen so seriously, never hungered for change so deeply. I've realized how much I've taken for granted and how much is at stake. For the health of our democracy, for the survival of our planet, and for the soul of our shared humanity.

I have felt compelled to listen to more news, read more articles, engage in more Facebook dialogues than ever before. But the thing that has kept me most inspired and hopeful has been engaging with real, live human beings. Having honest, searching and meaningful conversations about what really matters, and seeking a better way forward. Time after time, these interactions in the flesh, with people with thoughtful minds and compassionate hearts, have restored my hope in our humanity and in what America can yet be.

So as we set our sights on the mid-term elections of 2022, I want to continue those conversations, as a way of helping us all stay connected, sane, and hopeful, and as a space for discerning what is ours to do as we fulfill our role as sacred citizens to seek a more perfect union. I hope you will consider joining me and others for Healing Our Divides: A Spiritual and Political Support Group for this Election Season.