Deep divides separate Americans from one another. One main concern this November is the political division in the body politic that expands every day. Unfortunately, that is not the extent of multiple issues that rupture many of our social relations in churches, schools, states, fraternal organizations, neighborhoods and families. Pain caused by these divisions is excruciating.
A personal goal is to bring people together, to serve as a bridge across divides, and to provide opportunities for productive dialogue and peaceful negotiations. One has to confess that it often feels like being fastened to a torture rack. A hideous torture devised by humans was attaching a chain to wrists and another to ankles and stretching the two apart causing terrible pain. The comparison might seem too melodramatic, but those caught in the middle trying to hold our political, religious, academic and social groups together for healing feel psychological pain analogous being on the rack.
Imagine a person holding on by the fingertips to one edge of a deep gorge, with toes dragging toward other edge. Meanwhile, the chasm keeps getting wider and deeper with dangerous, turbulent waters roaring underneath. Or, a more accurate image might be a deep sink hole with multiple sides. War parties stomp and dance around while heaping insults and threats on enemies across the divide. They hurl sticks, stones and words that fall short, pelting those in the middle trying to hang on and form a bridge. Occasional warriors turn on partners and toss them into the abyss. You can understand why those in the middle are depressed and many give up or even hesitate to try to heal the wounds in our civic life. It is awful to view the weakening of strands binding us together and the crumbling overhangs surrounding us. Such pain is psychological and spiritual, not physical, but deep down, nonetheless.
Easy descriptions of the warrior groups are misleading and intensify conflicts. Stereotypes force individuals into uniform groups that mask significant differences. People in the middle trying to hold things together also are not uniform in their beliefs, commitments, or parameters. In fact, it is salutary to recognize that every individual is a minority of one who does not duplicate any other person or affirm all positions of any group. Being clear about that diversity helps one avoid both group think and stereotyping. Such clarity is absolutely essential to maintaining civic harmony, democracy, and the freedoms we enjoy as Americans.
Shared strands from our heritage and our diverse lived experience must be woven across the abyss like spider webs. Any bridge that has the prospect of narrowing the divide and calming things down must be constructed with more of our social and cultural resources, not less. Otherwise, the stresses will cause fragile bridges to collapse, leaving no one immune from disaster.
Hope depends upon those who are willing to hold on — positive cultural change takes time — and on those who join in the mediating task. Others can engage in constructive conversation and cooperative efforts to learn more about each other and avoid stereotyping. We can support people and organizations that attempt to bring people together. Perhaps some small reduction of agony and pain might result, along with healing and peace. The future of our ordered and flourishing life together depends upon that good work.
Raymond B. Williams, Crawfordsville, LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities emeritus, contributed this guest column.
