Learn how to be compassionate, and empathetic, and human, no matter who you're dealing with.

Kristina Cook writes,

If we wish to persuade, we have to talk to people in a way that they can hear. If they shut us down from the start, we can't get anywhere.

I believe - I STRONGLY believe - that the left and the right, the regular folks who identify with one or the other (not the elected folks - that's another conversation) want the same things. We want to protect our most vulnerable populations. We want to thrive. We want everyone else to thrive, too. We want to protect our freedoms, and protect everyone else's freedoms. We want to be empowered to live our lives according to our own decisions.
We want the same things.

We may have different tactics on how to get there. We may have slightly different ideas about how all those things look. But in the end, those are minor differences.

If you want to be an agent of change, learn how to speak so others can hear you. Learn what they want, and how your principles serve those ends. Learn how to be compassionate, and empathetic, and human, no matter who you're dealing with. You will do much to advance the cause of the human race if you'll invest the effort to do these things.