Bridget, Thank you for sharing this letter. Thanks as well to the letter-writer for her service to our country. A close of friend of mine, who is a combat veteran, observed to me that it is ironic that people who went overseas to fight for our country have had to come back home to fight for our country. It is indeed ironic. Of course, 'fighting' for our country doesn't literally mean fighting. We have too much of that. Instead, it means doing the hard work of citizenship. To that end, I'd like to flag for the letter-writer and others Braver Angels (www.braverangels.org), an organization dedicated to bridging the political divide and bringing about a different kind of politics, by facilitating conversations across differences designed to help people understand and see the humanity in each other, and find common ground where it exists. Braver Angels teaches the skills needed for such conversations in free workshops and has a range of other free offerings. The point isn't to change anyone's mind, but to change how we treat each other as fellow Americans, so we can use the common ground we find as a foundation for more accurately identifying our problems and understanding the nature and causes of them, so we can find consensus measures to ameliorate those problems, and encourage politicians to do the same. I'll also note, for the letter-writer and other veterans, that Braver Angels recently started a Veterans alliance (i.e. chapter), to give vets an opportunity to draw upon their common experiences and concerns, as they pursue success in the mission to restore our country to health. I hope folks will take a look and consider joining this movement.
A really intelligent and powerful contribution - thank you
❤️❤️❤️
Bridget, Thank you for sharing this letter. Thanks as well to the letter-writer for her service to our country. A close of friend of mine, who is a combat veteran, observed to me that it is ironic that people who went overseas to fight for our country have had to come back home to fight for our country. It is indeed ironic. Of course, 'fighting' for our country doesn't literally mean fighting. We have too much of that. Instead, it means doing the hard work of citizenship. To that end, I'd like to flag for the letter-writer and others Braver Angels (www.braverangels.org), an organization dedicated to bridging the political divide and bringing about a different kind of politics, by facilitating conversations across differences designed to help people understand and see the humanity in each other, and find common ground where it exists. Braver Angels teaches the skills needed for such conversations in free workshops and has a range of other free offerings. The point isn't to change anyone's mind, but to change how we treat each other as fellow Americans, so we can use the common ground we find as a foundation for more accurately identifying our problems and understanding the nature and causes of them, so we can find consensus measures to ameliorate those problems, and encourage politicians to do the same. I'll also note, for the letter-writer and other veterans, that Braver Angels recently started a Veterans alliance (i.e. chapter), to give vets an opportunity to draw upon their common experiences and concerns, as they pursue success in the mission to restore our country to health. I hope folks will take a look and consider joining this movement.
Great letter.
Love, love, love this!
Thank you!!