From Mitch's blog of Saturday:

"I remembered something my daughter said to me several weeks ago. We need to listen to each other and seek to understand.

She's right. We need to be heroic. Listen and talk about what matters...in person...without malice."

Be Heroic. Seems like such a simple thing. One unedited hour on Facebook and you will see that it isn't. Heck, some of the listservs here at Gotham have gotten quite hostile at times.

We have a golden opportunity here in the tribe. We are not a group of strangers, even if you don't know someone, someone you know does know that person. We have all been "vetted." In that way, we have a "warmer" group, so we can take bigger risks, we can not only stop hostility in its tracks, but promote, not just nonhostile conversation but, actually, kind conversation.

I'll help you and you can help me. So much of it is unconscious, but I'm ready to raise our consciousness. The time is now. Let's take advantage of this wonderful opportunity we have created.

"...placing morality above politics and responsibility above our desires, in making human community meaningful, in returning content to human speech, in reconstituting, as the focus of all social action, the autonomous, integral, and dignified human ‘I.’ ” -Vaclav Havel