# Understanding and Society By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-06-22 Our society has had pronounced times of disagreement. The Civil War is one example. Vietnam is another. We are currently experiencing pronounced division within our country. The division today seems more diffused and fragmented than those of the past. Today’s division is not about one thing but many. If news interviews are any indication, most people engaged in the division cannot clearly define its content or basis. They are unhappy. They are fearful. They are angry. They can list a few thought fragments on issues, but these are not coherent. They are talking points. If we are to bridge the divide within our society, we must come to understand the source(s) of the division. This will not be easy. The difficulty resides both internally and externally. The first step is to understand oneself. A problem with this is that nearly everybody thinks they always understand themselves. Reflecting on what is happening in one’s head and heart is challenging. One might discover things one doesn’t want to know. The second step is to understand the other. This is challenging because one often unreflectively believes that one is right and the other is wrong. Such a self-serving binary isn’t conducive to understanding. Our society is broken. Left to its own, it will get worse. Only a desire to make it better holds the potential for improvement. Understanding is essential. We have been deeply divided before. In many ways, we are still dealing with the consequences of those divisions today. Seeing each other as fellow citizens would be a good place to start. If we start with the position that legitimate citizens can hold conflicting views on important issues, we can discuss the issues without attacking each other. It is unclear whether we will be able to do this. There is much hatred, condescension, and confusion among us. It appears we are content yelling at each other rather than understanding. This deepens the division between “us” and “them.” As indicated previously, within society, there is no “them.” There is only us. We will solve this problem together, or we won’t survive as a society. #### Related Items [[Understanding]] [[Society]] [[Reflection]] [[Disagreement]] [[Problem Solving]]