Tom Brokaw just spoke at USC - took us through his life covering the late 1960's...man, he's been through it all. Seems like he just gets it. There's something about a guy like that, who has interviewed just about every big name in U.S. history during his career, that just seems authentic...there's something about him that makes me believe and trust he doesn't really bullshit his way through life. Good guy to listen to, and believe me, he said a lot - about race and politics, about citizenship, but even more simply...about talking and conversing with each other.
He left his listeners with an idea: if we don't speak to one another...if we stay on opposite sides of the room with opposite ideologies, how will we ever progress as a country? Dialogue. It is the simplest of ideas. It's what we're taught when we're younger. Listen when somebody speaks to you. Don't talk when somebody else is speaking. Respect others' opinions. Be open-minded. Maybe it's just the way I grew up, but I don't think so.
So how is it that as we get older, all this sort of fades away under the broad umbrella of what we like to call politics? It somehow becomes okay to attack each other for what we believe, to close ourselves and our minds off to differing opinions completely. And we call ourselves older...more mature.
Brokaw didn't really go into this as much...I took the liberty to expand on his thoughts, but just think about it.
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I like where you start going with the 2nd and 3rd graph. First graph needed another edit -- stronger lede. And a stronger conclusion was needed, too. You moblogged this one too, so you get 10pts
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