It is way too easy to sew disharmony and discord. Sadly, our psyches seem to be hardwired for Us vs. Them disputes, even among our own.
Two people who have largely similar values and concerns can bond together over them, but they can also be torn apart by the introduction of "difference," if they aren't very careful: difference of opinion, difference of experience, difference of identity.
I hope that this season we can all find the strength and maturity to keep our differences from dividing us.
One thing that should unite us here at Daily Kos is our respect for community as a force for good. Liberals/progressives are generally not afraid of the power of the collective.
Ironically, though, we allow ourselves to be pulled into disunity by reminders that we don't see matters identically. And we've got to learn to express and respond to our differences with more respect or we will crash and burn--as a virtual community and as a collective of online/RL activists.
It is too easy to get caught up in warfare--virtual and real.
It is too easy to let a difference (race, class, preferred candidate, opinion on policy) become so magnified that we forget the whole person, forget our common ground and see only "the enemy."
It is too easy to let our own perceptions become warped by our personal animosities and allegiances. Schadenfreude is not limited to delighting in the misfortune of those in the opposite party. And our celebrations of progressive accomplishments can be soured by hailing them as politicians' victories more than victories for the country and our people.
It's easy to be petty. God knows, I've wasted a lot of time and energy in pettiness myself--and will in the future because I'm human.
It's easy to be human.
But to be a healthy, productive community, we have to monitor our own individual pettiness, check it at the door, refuse invitations to engage it and instead respond to those who have come here not to fight clique-wars but to give a damn about the country. That is, after all, what brought us here originally: we all give a damn.
We give a damn about the poor, the un-powerful. We give a damn about the environment and the future of our ecosystem. We give a damn about democracy, about social justice, about the ideal that "all men [and women] are created equal."
That's a powerful lot to have in common with people, even when we disagree. If we can learn to rise above our differences and remember, always, that we share deep concerns for democracy and equality and opportunities for all, then we can be an even more powerful force.
I hope you all have a richly blessed day. And I hope that with the new year we can all do our best to resolve to focus more on what unites us and less on what divides us.
Peace.