Well that was an election, wasn't it?

I pride myself on listening to all sides of the stories. I listen to Glen Beck, Bill Maher, FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC. I read People. Newsweek, Time, and occasionally, Huffington Post. I have a strident desire to find middle ground. The problem is that "compromise" has become a word with negative connotation. It means giving up something you believe in. Which, in some ways is true, but I love Steven Covey's concept of finding a third, better way.

I know politics is an "off limits" topic, but anyone who knows me knows that I'm a little fuzzy on the term "off limits." I think we DO need to discuss politics. I think it's sad that we no longer can enter into serious discourse because we've become so divided. I WANT and feel we NEED to find some common ground and search for ways to move forward.

The funny thing is, in all other areas of our lives, we do compromise...and we don't usually think twice about it. Do you hold a hard line at work and refuse to give? Not likely, because it could mean your job (which is a treasure in this day and age). Do you hold a hard line with your spouse, your friends--no matter what? Not likely, because the relationship is more important to you than winning the argument. Do you hold the hard line every time with your kids? I know we don't, as much as we try. Truth is, there is nowhere in our lives that we refuse to compromise, except when it comes to politics, and yet, it's so critical for us to move forward as a country.

If we continue to refuse to "give in", to refuse to find common ground, we will not move forward. We will continue to see elections where people vote Dem, Rep, Dem, Rep...and so on, and so on, and so on...just like the old shampoo commercial. The fact is, we have different ways that we believe we need to achieve the same thing, but as long as you hold yours and I hold mine, we'll never move forward. If each of us, just for a moment, lets go of what our "ideal" is and looks for a way that we can connect and find solutions, perhaps we can get out of this stalemate. Because, the reality is, an ideal is just that...an ideal. Ideals don't work because reality gets in the way. So the answer is somewhere between what you believe and what I believe.

If for one moment, we would be willing to let go of our agenda and "yes, and" someone with a different ideology, could we not--even by happenstance--find a third, better way? I assert that "compromise" is not a bad word. It is a neutral word, and a necessity sometimes.

I'm not professing that I have anything figured out, but I'm sick of being afraid of putting ideas on the table for fear of being attacked. What if...instead of attacking ideas, we opened our minds, regardless of who put the idea forward? What if...instead of taking sides, we took the same side? What if we took the time we invested in trying to be right, and invested it in trying to understand and figure out something new?

Sorry, I'm an idealist. Actually, on second thought, I'm not sorry at all.