INCIVILITY: There is a cure

Are you tired of increased polarization, “othering,” name calling and lack of civil discourse?

Unfortunately, this seems to be the trajectory of our state of affairs both nationally and locally. We increasingly only socialize with our “own camp.”

When was the last time you had a respectful conversation with someone who has different views from your own? The decreased ability for us to simply listen to someone who has differing views without immediately resorting to arguing, oversimplification, and name calling is detrimental to our families, neighborhoods, cities and nation.

Living Room Conversations (LRC) works to heal society by connecting people across divides-politics, age, gender, race, nationality, and more- through guided conversations to build understanding and transform communities. The backbone of a LRC is a conversational model and conversation agreements developed by dialogue experts to facilitate connection between people despite differences and even identify areas of common ground and shared understanding.

Civic Engagement Alliance (CEA) is excited to bring the LRC model to North Idaho by hosting these small group conversations. Conversations held over the past several months include the topics of Tolerance, Freedom, Trust and Listening Courageously.

This month, in honor of Earth Day, CEA is hosting three online conversations on environmental topics: Climate of Unity, Climate Change, and Environment & Pollution. We plan to begin hosting in-person conversations soon. Please check out https://www.civicengagecda.com/living-room-conversations for information on dates and to sign up for a conversation. Join us! Invite a friend with different views. Let’s talk!

SARAH SWANBY

Coeur d’Alene