Just An Idea

JUST AN IDEA
by Rachel Hubbard

According to a recent Pew study, Americans are more likely than people in any other country in the world to say their fellow citizens are ‘morally bad’. It’s a sentiment that crosses party lines and class lines.

As I read the study, I kept thinking about a long ago conversation I had with Krista Tippett. The Oklahoma native was hosting a dinner as she launched the first iteration of the show/podcast now called “On Being”.

Much like our speaker this week, Krista gives people the space to talk about ideas, to sit with questions, to understand. It’s unusual in a world where it seems we are atomizing at a pace that is ever faster. Subcultures now have subcultures of subcultures. So, a group of people considering a single idea seems countercultural.

At the dinner, she posed an idea that has had a profound impact on my career. The idea was simple. You can argue with a person’s beliefs, but it is far more difficult to argue with their life story, their lived experience.

I was a young journalist, and when I got back to my hotel room that night, I wrote the idea down. Some weeks later, I decided I wanted to put it into action. So, I picked a real challenge.

There was a group of people who had been protesting funerals around the middle part of the country, and they publicized that they were coming to Oklahoma City to protest the funeral of a soldier who had been killed in combat.

The protestors lined the street outside the church holding signs and yelling at passersby. I walked up to one of them and started talking. He expected me to start challenging his beliefs. He was all but spitting on me as he spewed hateful sounding things that had become part of his automatic response. I told him that I didn’t want to talk about his beliefs, I wanted to talk about who he was. He went back to the practiced rant. I asked again. More ranting. I asked again. This time, he pointed to a small child standing behind his leg. He said something along the lines of “This is my little girl. She’s four-years-old. I look at her every day and know that I want a better life for my child. I want the best life that is possible.”

In that moment, I think we were both a little shocked.

If I started with his beliefs, we probably both would have walked away angry. He was already angry. I think I would have been shaking from the effort it took not to respond to the mean things he was saying to me and about me. Instead, we were able to connect because I could absolutely identify with wanting the best life for my kids. I could argue with his beliefs, but Krista was right – I couldn’t argue with his life experience.

Our speaker this week helps perpetuate ideas through the distribution of TED Talks. People share ideas and allow people around the world to consider them. Perhaps if we spent time listening to each other, considering each others ideas and experiences, we might not be convinced that our fellow citizens are morally bankrupt.

I don’t know. It’s just an idea.

P.S. Krista Tippett has done two TED Talks. You can find them here.