The countdown is on for the holiday season. As you gather with friends or family, chances are good that at some point you will encounter people who don’t share your point of view about topics that you feel strongly about, such as politics, faith, raising children, immigration or you fill in the blank.
How will you handle these difficult conversations?
While emotion surrounds these topics, it is possible to have civil conversations about any one of these things with capacity to agree to disagree and remain friends or connected as family.
Some believe social media has contributed to the lack of civility in our conversations. You see it on social media all the time: “If you disagree with my views, just unfriend me now.” Never mind the comments people make that are downright hate-filled. Perhaps because we don’t have to look at each other face to face when we actually say the words, people feel very free to slam each other.
Our nation was built on the premise that not only do we have the freedom to have an opinion, we also have the freedom to express it. However, how you say something matters, and it is like trying to put toothpaste back into a tube once you have squeezed it out. You can apologize for saying ugly words in the heat of the moment, but it’s basically impossible to take them back. The sting lingers.