Circles are better than echo chambers.

Yet we increasingly isolate ourselves in chambers where everyone nods at the words we utter. We nod at their ideas in return. Same. Yes. Same.

We poke our heads out just long enough to point an accusing finger across the increasingly deep and wide divide, screaming shame and blame at the other side. The other side shouts back, and we declare ourselves informed.

The algorithms of social media compound the isolationism. Our beliefs and ideas bounce around without scrutiny, and we dance around the chamber drinking our favorite flavor of Kool-Aid.

Circles are better.

More bridges. More conversations. Bigger circles.

At my church, the poem “Outwitted,” by Edward Markham, is often recited in services.

He drew a circle that shut me out —
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!Circles art better

Why should we draw a circle to take in those who would shut us out, the ones who dance in the echo chamber on the other side?

The reasons are many, but dragging others into our own echo chamber is not one of them. The circle is for inclusion, not isolation. For conversation, not accusation. For listening, not pedantry.

The circle is not a ring for idealogical arm-wrestling, where the winner takes the converts. We don’t have to convert each other. The center of the circle is about empathy, not agreement.

Listening is hard, but worthy work. Empathy may take practice, but it is the path, the bridge.

Let’s sit in more circles. Let’s be better listeners.

©Copyright Pennie Nichols. All Rights Reserved. 2017