Altona CAN! Seek 1st to Understand

These days it seems there is no shortage of topics to disagree on. Trump? Trudeau? COVID19?

Climate Change? Conspiracy theories? How do you react when faced with a point of view that

is different from your own?

Recently I read a book entitled “I’m Right and You’re an Idiot” by James Hoggan. Isn’t that

exactly what we’re muttering under our breath so often these days? I have to admit it is often

my first reaction when I hear the latest opinions on the street or when scrolling through social

media.

The book challenged me to listen to those whose opinions and beliefs differ from mine. Like

really listen. Not the kind of listening where we are actually just waiting for the chance to say

our piece, but listening with the kind of curiosity that helps us learn where someone is coming

from. To hear their story. To uncover the background for their beliefs.

A high school history teacher had us do an exercise where we all listed the first 5 things that

happened in class that day. Not surprising, all of our lists were different. Our lists depended on

where we were sitting, what caught our attention, what we thought was important enough to

write down and so on. No one was right and no one was an idiot.

Our lists were a product of our perspective, and to understand perspective, we must throw out

the notion of right and wrong. To understand perspective, we have to get curious. We must be

open to learning more about where someone is coming from. We would need to cross the room

and sit in someone else’s desk for a while and see the world from their vantage point. This is

hard work.

The book encouraged readers to engage in dialogue, not debate. In a debate, the goal is to be

right and to convince others of your point of view. In dialogue, we assume that we each have

something to learn from each other. But what about when dialogue seems impossible?

I have no answers, but I do know that living with the mindset that we are all doing our best is a

helpful way forward. Everyone feels justified in their beliefs. Everyone feels they have good

reason to think the way they do. Everyone is doing the best they can.

What does any of this have to do with sustainability? One thing I think we can all agree on is that

we’ve got some big problems to face in the world, but we’re not going to solve them when we

remain in the “I’m right and you’re an idiot” stance. Big problems require us to come together,

to cooperate and collaborate. Big problems require us to find common ground and to respect

each other’s perspectives. Maybe the only idiots are ourselves when we can’t hold space for

another’s point of view.

Connie Heppner Mueller for ACAN.

ACAN seeks to educate and inspire sustainable practices in our community.

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