I was in a rough meeting today. One department wanted to vent their frustrations about an issue that my office deals with, but doesn't really control. I felt for them, I really did. They deal with this specific issue day-in and day-out.
So do we, of course, but many feel that this issue affects the security of their positions. This particular issue is something that I must deal with everyday myself, so I get how much it sucks. It makes it even worse that I feel so completely helpless. It's a bad problem, but not one with any discernible solution at present. It's not our fault, it's not their fault.
Yet we still have to deal with it every day. There were some passionate words and raised voices, nothing mean spirited, just two sides trying to be understood.
Here's what the hardest part was: Both sides were right. Completely, totally right. Their views might be opposing, but at the end of the day, both were true. Both iffrefutably reflected reality.
With all of hoopla over the recent elections, it just seems like it all comes down to that: Both sides are right, Both sides are biased, but both sides make salient points.
We are so sure there is only right answer. It is ours. Given these assumptions, any answer that differs from ours must be wrong.
It's so natural to us, we don't even question it. It's the reason no one wins. We are both right. We both see something to which the other side is blind. We both understand something fundamental and important. It marries us to a point of view, a way of thinking, an identity. We have to be right and they have to be wrong.
I don't know what to do about it. I hear when others explain their grievances. I get frustrated when they don't see how much more complicated the whole thing is. I don't know how we find middle ground. Maybe we start with giving up the idea that being right is a zero sum game.
No comments:
Post a Comment