Today I’m meeting with a group of High School students to discuss politics. I’m not going to tell them whom I plan to vote for.

Instead, I’m going to ask them a question: “Why do people like the ‘other’ guy? The guy you wouldn’t vote for?”

I think it’s an important question, a question that each of us should probably ask ourselves.

It’s my experience that too many people have too strong an opinion about how “great” the candidate on their half of the political spectrum is, and too low an opinion of the “other” guy. And that’s a huge problem.

Why?

Civility.

The reason that discussing politics can become so heated and volatile is that it often becomes a game of “You’re wrong, I’m right!” Friend tries to convince friend, neighbor tries to discredit neighbor, brother begins to hate brother. In a country that regards itself as “united,” such should never be the case.

Unless you can learn to see what the “other” guy is seeing, understand why he thinks and feels the way he does, you’ll never know how to work together toward a united cause.

United, we stand. Divided…