What the World Needs

The world is missing something... Can you sense it? Bombings, shootings, political turmoil, suicide, hatred, and bigotry are flooding the news and social media. These and other sensitive topics are headlining daily. Every time I log into Facebook or check the news, I find one of the big ones being heatedly debated. I, like many, have discussed them with friends and co-workers. These conversations have boiled with a myriad of opinions and divers emotions on these topics and I generally walk away from these conversations or exposures to social media a bit peeved. This frustration comes from the lack of compassion expressed in the media. This lack of compassion comes from a polarization in the arguments at hand. This polarization causes a lack of a clear understanding of different sides of an issue. This lack of understanding comes a lack of stasis.  I want to talk about how to remedy all of these.
Let's start with stasis. In rhetoric, stasis helps to identify the central point of an issue. Identifying this central point allows for the creation of the common ground of an argument - the legs we can all agree to stand on to productively discuss a given topic. Stasis can be reached by locating all the facts of an issue (what did or did not happen?), or defining the terms of the issue (what was the nature of what happened?), by determining the quality the events (was it good or bad?), and by identifying the policies at hand (what should be done moving forward?). It can also be reached by doing any or all of them together. Once one or all of these things can be agreed upon, the participants of a discussion have reached a stasis - an agreed upon understanding of an issue. Reaching the stasis fosters the neutral third space to allow for fair and productive conversation. For more information on Stasis Theory, see Purdue's website here. 
By creating a middle ground for the large issues we face, we could more effectively work through them. There is, however, a problem. We live in a polarized super-culture. This creates very little - if any - middle ground in an argument. It doesn't survive for very long before it is smashed for being weak or "flip-floppy." Those who stand in the middle are told to pick a side and stop being "wishy-washy." With this super-culture, the middle ground doesn't have room to grow or, in many instances, even be created. However, it is only in the middle ground - the neutral third space - that any of the issues can be fairly discussed! Sometimes it seems that no one wants to put the effort forth to create the middle ground - the neutral third space - and, with such dramatic polarization, that a third space seems impossible.  
I am an idealist and I will readily admit that. I believe in the power of compromise. I believe people are generally good and kind and want to find ways to co-exist. Based on what I have seen in the news and on social media, I have thought of a few things that might help create a desire for the third space, which will induce the necessary questions to reach a stasis. The following ideas are some things that I have been mulling over for some time and I think that, if we could implement them even on a individual level, they just might help with everything that's going on in the country (maybe even world) today. They are all designed to create compassion for others. By no means are they comprehensive or a cure-all, however, I believe they would help create a climate in which the middle ground can have a chance for survival. To help make it more real and personal, and also just for fun, turn the following into "I statements." 
Creating Compassion for Others 

• Focus on how and why we are similar rather than how and why we are different.
• Think about at least one other person for 10 seconds every day.
• Assume that we will be treated fairly with kindness, dignity, and respect.
• Treat others fairly with kindness, dignity, and respect.
• Understand the difference between ignorance and bigotry, and that the cure for both is truth.
• Ignorance: lack of knowledge or information.
• Bigotry: intolerance toward those who hold different opinions from oneself.
• Have courage to accept responsibility for one's mistakes.
• Be brave enough to be vulnerable.
• Genuinely and quickly forgive.

What if we focused on our similarities rather than our differences? Or thought about others more consistently? What if we expected others to treat us fairly and did the same in return? What if everyone understood that bigotry was the real enemy? What if people owned up to their mistakes, were vulnerable, and forgiveness was more freely given? How would the world be different? Can you imagine?! What if these were the guiding ideals of the population, can you imagine how the world would be different?! Can you imagine how all of the fighting, hatred, and bigotry would be diminished if not eradicated?! We would be see less and less of the awful that the media shows us. We would see less and less of the parts of humanity that and see more and more of what makes the world wonderful.  

Dear friends, by creating compassion, the desire for the third space would grow individually and collectively. A desire for the third space would lead to discussions of the facts, definitions, quality, and policies around the issues we face. These discussions would lead to a stasis which would create the third space and allow for compassionate progress forward.  All of this creates hope. Hope that tomorrow can be better than today. Hope that, one day, we won't have to be afraid to turn on the news or walk down the street.

That is what the world is missing. That is what the world needs.