These are difficult times. The division in our country is getting worse. We had an assassination attempt on past president, Donald Trump, last weekend. While the assassination attempt was not successful, Donald Trump was injured, and three other people were as well, and one of those lost his life. Regardless of what we believe politically, regardless of who we prefer to be in the White House as President in January of 2025, we need to do our part to stop the madness before it destroys our democracy. But how do we do that? Where do we start?

We can start by being on our best behavior. We can be respectful. We can refuse to engage in telling lies, exaggerating, or casting disbursement on either party or presidential candidate. We can be sure about our facts, or as sure as possible, and not allow the spin doctors to change our thinking. We can read everything we can find from reputable sources, and judge for ourselves where the truth is. We can let our values guide us.

How do we know who and what to trust? How do we reconcile the fact that people who were so opposed to a candidate, saying terrible things about his character, behavior, and motivations, turn and now support him without reservation? We hear “That’s just politics.” Maybe so, but how do we trust the character, behavior, and motivations of those turncoats?

How do we know who to believe? How do we know how much of what is reported is really true?

My comments are not aimed at any particular political party. They really aren’t aimed at any politician. They are aimed at all of us, us individually, as Americans. For this is really as much of an individual problem as it is a systemic problem. Also, the problem isn’t new. In fact, I was reminded by someone just today about how these same problems have been around for many years.  While I know that is true, am I wrong to believe that the problems are worse now? Or do they just seem worse because we have a twenty-four-hour news cycle that keeps them in front of us? I honestly do not know. What I do know is that we could self-destruct if things don’t change.

So, what can we concerned citizens do about any of this? I made a few suggestions above. In addition to those, I suggest we engage in dialogue with those we trust. Instead of avoiding a discussion of politics, I suggest we openly discuss our differences and attempt to find common ground. We might just learn something from others in the process.

What we should not do is make unilateral statements against politicians, assuming we know who is telling the truth and who can be trusted, and why “our” candidate is the best candidate. We should listen more than we talk. We should take the high road when others are not as good at discussing these issues as I recommend we be.

If we put ourselves in the position to learn something from others, we just might find some room for movement in our staunch positions. We just might find common ground.