Trash Talk Trashes Us

I was on the NO side.  You'd think I'd feel victorious.  I don't.


Here in Calgary, we have just come through an Olympic-sized exercise of competing visions.  Do we host the 2026 winter Games or not?  As I write, it's the day after the plebescite vote.  The No side won.   One side 'defeated', the other side 'winning'.

It's sad to me that in order to achieve something, we often feel its necessary to trash and denigrate the 'other side'.  We think that to justify one perspective or vision you have to tear down the other. After the vote, one opinion editor on the YES side who writes for a major Calgary newspaper characterized the NO side as having "the cumulative vision of a blind cyclops".

This is a very human thing, exacerbated by our current culture's growing affinity for drawing hard lines and building walls.  Discussions in the realm of politics, religion, relationships, social issues and competing visions are increasingly difficult to engage without it descending into a version of tribal warfare.

I'd like to call us to Dignity and Craft in our conversations.  Choose first to start any interaction by acknowledging the inherent dignity of that individual(s).  Their (and your) worth does not rest in their opinions. It rests in a value given to them by the Creator who made them equal.  If you don't believe in a Creator, your government's constitution in most cases underscores the value and dignity of all persons.

Then let's reframe conversation as a craft.  It's an art form, not a sport where one wins and the other loses.  Through understanding, curiosity and vigorous arguments, we can create something that did not exist prior to talking.  Art.  (check out Os Guiness' book 'The Global Public Square' for some ideas on this)

Back to Calgary's Olympic issue.  We, the citizens were split 56% No to 44% Yes.  This doesn't have to be a zero-sum game where one is declared winner and one a loser.

Whether it's the Olympics or an argument over renovating the church, or developing a new project - the issue is irrelevant.  It's HOW you approach the problem that will determine whether you can bring resolution to it at all.

Trash talks trashes all of us.   Choose Dignity.  Go make some Art instead.