The sky is purple.
Yes, it is.
YES IT IS.
Purple is the mixture of red and blue. It contains blue, which is probably what color you said the sky is. But I’m telling you: the sky is purple.
It’s just purple without red.
You were right in a limited sense. I was right with too much additional stuff. If I were taking a multiple-choice test, the scantron machine would count that wrong. But we’re both wrong, considering the fact that the sky isn’t actually blue – light, which contains ALL the colors in the color spectrum, interacts with molecules in our atmosphere, and that interaction scatters the wavelengths, and our human eyes pick up the blue color. (So, i’m still right, but in a different way. Per the ushe.)
Ask honeybees what color the sky is. They can see all the way into the ultraviolet end of the spectrum.
I asked my dog what color the sky is, and he – a super, smart Border Collie/German Shepherd mix who has a JD by proxy – said gray, so…
Our politics have become like that, in a sense. One side is trying to be their version of “right”, but have a skewed view. The other side isn’t right in ways everyone can get on-board with. And the options presented don’t really take into account nuance and gray area for the sake of expediency or to ensure it remains necessary and viable as the center of debate.
But life isn’t all one thing or the other. It isn’t a multiple-choice test either, although we’re all still looking for the most-right answers. But, with none of us taking the same test… how in the world are we supposed to agree on its right answers?
When i was a college government professor, I’d give different versions of exams to my students. With online tests, I’d set the test to randomize on its own.That was meant to ensure students couldn’t “help” each other with tests. I helped them coordinate study groups, though, and we would do in-class reviews where we would all talk about topics, do any last-minute clarifications, and help each other relate to the material better. (Yes, on those days, it was all of us together… I wore plain clothes, we had a conversation, I’d ask questions to guide the discussion)
That way, we could talk about issues and get on the same page (well, them on my page) about issues and how to succeed when it wsa their time to be alone with the material.
In a similar way, we can all “help” each other with our lives by sharing some of the ways we’re successful. The answers themselves may not work for everyone, like, you couldn’t tell me I need your religion without my tuning out, but I would LOVE to hear about the positive feelings or encouragement it gives you to live your greatest potential. If you have a personal triumph story, ANYBODY can connect to those… Check out Universal Themes.
We like hearing about the human spirit’s triumph over its limitations, whether self-imposed, social, or physical. It’s why we think Nelson Mandela is so amazing, and root for the abolishment of slavery in retrospectives on US history.
We have to understand where we are, as well as where others are coming from, and then start talking about the bigger picture.
A couple of good starting points: