Words can send a powerful message, and this is especially true during an election season.
Primary Election Day is Tuesday, Aug. 13, and it’s a good time to reiterate the message we editorialized on earlier this year: Be respectful, no matter how strongly you feel about a candidate or issue.
In June we launched the “Respect Campaign,” which is a series of advertisements and messages reminding us to be respectful, especially in election dialogue.
The simple message is that kindness can and should play an important role in our daily lives.
Mob mentality plays out daily on social media where it’s easy to ridicule, mock anyone who doesn’t subscribe to our ideals.
Turning this around takes personal responsibility and a desire to help those around us succeed, rather than calling out their failures.
Compromise, while often achieved in our daily endeavors, is seemingly abandoned when it comes to politics. Many of our politicians set that example years ago, and scores of us have regrettably followed.
But there are ways to participate in an election, be loyal to a party and still respectfully engage in conversations about an opposing party’s platform without burning bridges.
Agreeing to disagree may ultimately be the outcome, but vilifying or deleting someone is isolating. And that outcome is a lost opportunity to understand why other people think a certain way, believe in a cause, or how they approach difficult decisions.
We all learn and gain so much from others, but that only happens when we communicate with those we don’t always agree with.
Again, we urge our readers to think about how we can improve our election season dialogue — for the good of our relationships and for our community.
Will we always agree? Will we always find a shared solution? Will we always be able to influence? No. But making the attempt without crucifying others is a good start.
If we can do that, then we have made significant strides for the good of our communities and the greater society. And there’s always the chance we might also learn something valuable along the way.
For questions about how to participate in Tuesday’s Primary Election, call the Rock County courthouse at 507-283-5060 or email election@co.rock.mn.us
Excerpted in part from a column by Keith Anderson,
Adams Publishing Group
