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Connecting With the “Other Side”
“We’re looking at a lot of traumatized people who are finding a political outlet for their mistrust and anger. The issue acts as a flashpoint.” Dr Gabor Maté
This week in our Sunday class, we are inquiring into the pressure to go “back to normal” at schools and work. When we are looking into the polarization between people who are against vaccinations for Covid and people who are in favor of vaccines, I am not looking to shame anyone. I understand that some people, including in our online community, are vaccine hesitant, or they are choosing to not be vaccinated for their own reasons. I respect that and them.
The inquiry in this week’s class centers on people who believe Covid is a conspiracy, and the belief that their freedom to not vaccinate and not mask takes priority over health care and safety for the wider community.
I don’t have an answer to “fix this”. None of us do. We hate feeling powerless to respond to the life and death threat of Covid, the abrupt ripping away 18 months ago of “normal life”, and the challenges of living in a global pandemic in which people are polarized and not able to consistently access and live from “our best selves”.
Shaming ourselves and others for our nervous system responses makes this worse and can create a permanent breach in our relationships. And we feel an urgency…
