NPR
In the rough-hewn parlor of a creaky, 19th-century farmhouse in Brentwood, 13 people are sitting in a pair of concentric circles.
Six “reds” — or conservatives — are in the middle.
Around them on the outside, sit seven “blues” — or liberals.
“Don’t look at them. Don’t talk to them. We’ll just talk among ourselves,” commands Bill Doherty, a family therapist who teaches at the University of Minnesota. “Those of you who are in the blue group, your job is to listen and learn something here.”
The more I was able to productively disagree with people, the more I realized that I didn’t need them to agree with me in order for me to be okay. I found strength and peace in myself that left me feeling more empowered, even when the world felt scary and out of control.
The civic philosophies of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. echo in the work of Braver Angels.
If in the midst of this tragedy, the people of Los Angeles, and all America for that matter, are given cause to remember how precious we are to one another, then something will have been gained in this.
