Find a Way to Connect in Divisive Times (Monday Moment ep. 539)

Live Inspired Podcast with John O'Leary

John O'Leary

Self-improvement, Bestsellingauthor, Education, Dailyinspiration, Society & Culture, Liveinspired, Johnoleary, Inspiration, Joebuck, Inspiredliving, Onfire, Relationships

4.9 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2023

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In our society today, it seems as if every topic immediately polarizes, fragments us and quickly leads to rigidly drawn lines between two opposing sides. Those on our perceived side are right, they’re our allies, the good guys.

And those on the other side?

They’re just wrong. They are to be pitied for their unawareness, canceled for their ignorance or attacked for their stupidity.

So, what will be the result of this elevating anger? What happens as our media complicity sows seeds of outrage each day and our political leaders jam a larger wedge into society?

What are the consequences if we choose to continue down the hostile, divisive path we’re on?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, hello, my friends, and welcome to the Live Inspired podcast Monday morning moments with John O'Leary.
0:18.0	As you know by now, we record these so that you and I can begin our days and our weeks
0:22.3	in awe and on fire with the bursts of inspiration. And I think inspiration is something we all need
0:28.8	a little bit more of because in our society, every single topic immediately polarizes,
0:34.4	it fragments us farther and quickly leads to rigidly drawn lines between two
0:39.8	opposing sides. Those on our perceived side, they're right. There are allies. They're the good guys.
0:48.9	And those on the other side, they're just wrong. They are there to be pitied for their unawareness, cancel for their
0:57.1	ignorance, or attacked for their stupidity. So what will the result be of all this elevated anger?
1:04.6	What happens as our media friends complicitly sow seeds of outrage within each of us every day. What happens as our political
1:13.0	leaders jam a larger and a larger wedge into our society? What are the consequences if we choose to
1:19.8	continue down the hostile, divisive path that we're presently on? Well, the answer, I think,
1:25.3	is framed brilliantly in one of my favorite poems by James Patrick
1:29.5	Kenny. It was written in the early 1960s. Seems like a long time ago, maybe, but it is
1:35.6	tragically highly relevant today. Here we go. It's called The Cold Within by James Patrick Kenny.
1:44.0	Six humans trapped by happenstance and dark and bitter cold. called The Cold Within by James Patrick Kenny.
1:48.4	Six humans trapped by happenstance and dark and bitter cold.
1:53.6	Each possessed a stick of wood, or so the stories told.
1:59.2	They're dying fire in need of logs, but the first one held hers back.
2:04.8	For of the faces around the fire, she noticed one was black.
2:12.1	The next one looked across the way, saw one out of his church, and could not bring himself to give the fire, his stick of birch. The third one sat in tattered clothes. He gave his coat a hitch. Why should his
2:21.5	log be put to use to warm the idle rich? And the rich man sat back and thought of wealth he had
2:29.8	in store and keeping all that he had earned from the lazy, shiftless, poor.
	...

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