President’s Message
I guess I should make reference to Anderson Cooper and CNN for the use of “360°” so I don’t get plagiarism charges from any astute readers. Due to the amount of local press and correspondence on two somewhat contentious issues—home demolitions and a medical marijuana dispensary—I wanted to offer a few thoughts and reminders for all to consider.
While a few of my close friends lean heavily right on the prevailing political spectrum, I tend to have both left and right tendencies depending on the particular topic. I try to hold in my smirk when they contend that FOX News gives the most fair airing of the issues (although the same could be said of MSNBC). Therefore, my friends and I can get into some passionate discussions at times. A couple years ago we drove to Napa Valley with another couple, and my friend and I kept up a continuing “dialog” the whole ten hours on a broad range of issues. Our wives only had to intervene a couple times from the back seat to ask us to lower the volume a bit. We decided to give them a break on the return trip and kept it light by singing along with 60’s and 70’s tunes on the radio. After the third CCR tune, they were begging us to go back to our political debating! My point being that we mutually had a level of respect and a bit of empathy for the other’s viewpoint—begrudgingly at times, but still able to take the 180° trip and try to imagine the view from that position.
As President of BWNA I feel it is my duty and responsibility to act as an example for this 360° view on all issues and to expect all public discourses under BWNA oversight to also exhibit this respectful stance of all opinions. This doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t offer to express my own opinion when asked, just that I need to be conscious of facilitating the process so all opinions are allowed to be comfortably voiced.
While I strive for this level of equitable inclusiveness, I’m just as guilty as others of letting my frustration and impatience cause me to “tune out” at times; allowing my thoughts to race ahead and form that great comeback or “gotcha point” rather than listening to the opposing view. Hopefully, honest post-critiquing of each situation will help me keep my “hypocrite index” to redeemable levels.
Our democratic society’s strength depends on passion to move individuals to act and energize required change, we just need to guard against having our strength of conviction create “tunnel vision” that thwarts the broader view needed for progress on most issues. So while maintaining our civic passion to affect change; remember opinions don’t carry a right or wrong (within the rational world) absoluteness. Opinions are shaped by our interpretations of numerous inputs and unique experiences, and as expressed by many others over the years: “Wouldn’t life be such a bore if we all thought the same!”