Gooday, humans. Welcome to the show that doesn't deal in absolutes, that doesn't deal in blacks and whites.

So many shows, so many politicians, so many commentators, so much of your social media feed expects either your agreement or disagreement, either your furious love or your furious anger.

I do not.

I ask only that we give each other the benefit of the doubt,

that we wrestle with ideas we reject, as well as those we think are right.

Let's escape the dogmas of conventional wisdom.

Let's have conversations that straddle the cultural divide

and make us all just a little uncomfortable.

Well, this is very exciting.

This is the first time in the history of uncomfortable conversations with

Josh Sepp's that we've had a return guest. Oh, Mr. Berkman, oh, Mr. Oliver Berkman,

I'm such a fan of Oliver Berkman's. He's a guardian columnist who lives in New York City.

I fell in love with him when I read his book, The Antidote, Happiness for People

Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, which is almost a decade old by now.

And I'm ashamed to say that when I spoke with Oliver recently, I didn't realize that

he had just finished his guardian column.

He has had this column where he's basically done sort of essentially self-help,

pop psychology, life hacking, time management, spiritual guardianship columns for as long as

I've been aware of him, I suppose, a couple of decades.

And his last one was in September of 2020.

I didn't notice them slip out of the world into the great ether beyond,

but I do now note that I have been missing them without even knowing it.

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