I had a very interesting conversation the other day about
one of the major tenants of resilience, engagement. For a community to be resilient each member
must be engaged, they have to feel as if they have a voice and that their voice
matters.
Today we are more connected than ever, we have instant access
to all types of information. But are we really engaged? What are our dialogues?
Do we desire to be right?
I look at the news that comes screaming at me, I go to
meetings where whoever yells the loudest gets heard, and I then scream myself
via my online presences.
So I change my dialogue. I no longer participate in the
yelling. When presented with differences, I search for commonalities. I listen
carefully to what others say and try to find where we can agree, thus moving
the conversation forward. Now we are engaged,
we may not agree on everything, but we are engaged.
Today, I am going to actively engage with one person in a real
dialogue, you?