It was interesting yesterday to read a story about Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia and their friendship through the years. Both were great people who were polar opposites on the political belief spectrum. They put aside those differences to find common ground in something they both loved, namely opera.
Also I read some posts on Facebook fan sites about several of my former opponents in hockey who made it to the big leagues by being enforcers. I related to these fans that although I had fought each of these guys back in the day, they were really nice guys off the ice and we often had beers together after the games.
Throughout my business career some of my best friends were competitors. We did anything to beat each other where deals were concerned, but had great relationships outside of the field of competition.
We are living during very divisive times in respect to politics, mask vs no mask, race relations, and many other social issues. I wish we could learn from these examples about how to find common ground and make civility popular again. Maybe revisiting some of these 1960’s era values could help them make a comeback.
Action for the week. Be civil, be nice, have discussions vs arguments. And finally, don’t hide behind social media making inflammatory remarks. It doesn’t help us move forward.
