The same boat: Our need for more empathy - The Branding Iron

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"We may have come from different boats, but we're on the same boat now" ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

While this may not be one of Dr. King's most well-known quotes, I find it incredibly relevant today. Between recent abortion pill bans and transgender issues in Wyoming, there has been heated debates circulating within communities of the state. I myself have noticed increased discussion on these matters within my own little world here at the University of Wyoming. 

These are sensitive topics that people take passionate sides on, and in today's polarized political climate, it seems we are more likely than ever to become desensitized to opposing views, and thus, the people that hold them. 

Looking at the world at large, I sometimes feel we as a society are falling apart. Gun debates continue to surge, inflation is a concern of most Americans, and climate change feels increasingly urgent to address. As a college student, I have moments of panic for what my future looks like, and if things will only get worse from here. If there's anything our world needs right now, it's increased levels of understanding and goodwill towards one another. 

To be clear, I think there's moments of hope in heated debate. I'm grateful to live in a country where individuals are allowed to have such varied opinions, and even more so that we're allowed to speak so freely about them. I'm grateful for the public discourse that living in the United States of America grants us. 

However, I have seen many examples in recent weeks where I personally believe the line of public discourse has been crossed into straight bullying. Libel. Slander. As an editor, I strive to hold myself and our team to a standard of impartiality, and ethical journalism, as we work in a powerful field. I'm disheartened to see both local and national news publications fail to hold journalists to that same standard, which only fuels the fire of hatred that seems to be boiling over.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own trusted news source. Regardless of who you are or what information you hold as truth, I would encourage everyone to act with a little more kindness and a little more empathy, especially towards the people who believe different things or lead different lives than you. 

I hope that we can go on trying to understand each other's stories, and learn to appreciate, rather than discredit, what makes us different. I hope we may move forward to learn to live alongside one another, without making cruel comments or generalizing claims about our fellow Wyomingites. I hope we may begin pursuing measures that increase the wellbeing of not just one single group or entity, but rather all of us. 

So regardless of who you are or what you believe, the next time you feel anger or frustration towards a single group or individual based on their values, rather than lashing out or seeking to prove the validity of your own insight, turn to curiosity. Ask yourself how another's life may look different than your own, and how that might impact the way they lead their lives. Ask yourself how their beliefs may be just as valid as your own, and how you may begin to understand why they hold them. It's a hard goal to work towards. Regardless, I hope we may turn back to civil discourse, looking past lifestyles and beliefs we disagree with, and see the human being seeking to be as loved and understood as much as the next person. At the end of the day, we truly are all in the same boat.