Finding our equilibrium

By Mia Pohlman

Something this past transition of power has brought to the forefront in our country is the intolerance of many people for people whose ideas align with the other party.

The media, too, are especially guilty.

We have to begin seeing the person first, before their ideals, before our ideals. We have to realize people's unique experiences create their ideologies and beliefs, and all these experiences and concerns are valid.

If we meet others with this attitude, perhaps we can move our country towards a peaceful society.

On the desk in her office, my grandma has a Newton's Cradle. There are five metal balls hanging from separate loops of fishing string; and at resting position they all peacefully hang side-by-side.

When motion disturbs them, however -- a hand pulls the ball on one end out to the side and lets it go, sending it careening into the other balls -- they clack together, pushing the outer ball on the opposite end out to the side.

When its force comes back to hit the other balls, it sends the initial ball that was raised out to the side, repeating the process back and forth, over and over again.

The balls eventually lose momentum until equilibrium is achieved again. The farther someone pulls the first ball out to the side, the longer it takes to reach this resting state.

What I've learned from those balls swinging back and forth is this: if we keep implementing extremes, we will continue oscillating between extremes.

Liberal policies not everyone was ready for begot conservative policies not everyone is willing to adhere to, which beget liberal policies that beget conservative policies, and on and on until someone decides to stand in the middle.

Our country is not very old -- it seems we're in the tumultuous stages of adolescence.

Psychologically speaking, our nation's pre-frontal cortex is not yet fully developed -- we're not great at making decisions based on reason or at having an abundance of serotonin to help us feel peaceful when our party isn't in power.

We don't yet understand our identity.

What does it mean to be American?

The struggle has begun within our borders to renegotiate our identity in the context of the broader world.

We don't yet know how to live inside the same borders with people who think differently from us.

This goes for all of us -- conservatives, liberals and the people in between.

We are still in the process of creating our identity.

Teilhard de Chardin wrote, "Above all, trust in the slow work of God ... it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability. ... Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete."

A billboard on I-55 says, "Invite God to heal our land."

We know this healing begins with us, with our recognition of our own biases, the realization of our own and others' valid perspectives.

It begins with our willingness to step towards the other, not to change them or ourselves, but in a gesture of love. By not seeking to change others or ourselves, but reaching out in friendship to those who think differently from us, we all will be changed, transformed.