“Agree with Your Adversary Quickly”?
Pre-paid forgiveness.
Not too long ago, writer and activist Wendell Berry mentioned having a friendly conversation with Trump voters at his local farm-supply store in Port Royal, Kentucky. He explained that this type of cordial behavior is required in a small town: “If two neighbors know that they may seriously disagree, but that either of them, given even a small change of circumstances, may desperately need the other, should they not keep between them a sort of pre-paid forgiveness? They ought to keep it ready to hand, like a fire extinguisher.”
As human beings, we’re all connected and we need to rely on one another. So we can certainly find a good number of ordinary things we have in common. It’s possible to have a civil conversation with anyone. We can talk about the weather, sports events, family milestones, and other everyday subjects.
But it goes deeper than that. I like Berry’s expression, “pre-paid forgiveness.” How do we do that — staying at the ready to extend pardon “like a fire extinguisher”? This practice is needed, now more than ever — not just with our neighbors with whom we may disagree, but — in everything we do, everywhere we go, including our interactions with family members and friends, as well as strangers.
