By Khalida Sarwari
You’re pro-Hillary, but your neighbor just planted a “Trump: Make America Great Again” sign in his front yard? Maybe it’s time to leave the proverbial boxing gloves behind and exchange a few words.
No, not that kind!
Knowing that just about everybody could use some healing words during this politically polarizing election year, expert facilitator Shyrl McCormick will stop by the Saratoga Foothill Club later this month to offer practical advice on how to communicate with empathy.
“What’s bothersome about it all is the campaign, the candidates and the media are fanning the flames of fear and anger and racism and all kinds of political and economic divide that we don’t want in this country and we don’t want in our lives,” McCormick said.
So as part of her presentation, “Putting the ‘Civil’ Back into Discourse,” McCormick will train participants to listen and speak in such a way that they can learn from one another and work together despite their differences. Her talk will focus on practical applications rather than theory, she said.
“I basically want to take the approach that we–as individuals and together–are responsible for our discourse and keeping it civil, and that we can help return civility to our public discourse through empathic listening and speaking,” she said.
McCormick encouraged people to bring along friends, colleagues or neighbors that they may disagree with politically or in other ways. The point is not to argue or debate, but to try to understand where the other is coming from in a “safe, supportive and fun” space, she said.
“It’s about how we can talk about it without fear or worry of hurting somebody or messing up in terms of getting into an argument,” she said. “If people can
bring somebody where they just seem stuck, they just can’t agree about this, but they’d like to because they really care about it a lot–if they can bring that person with them I think that would be super.”
McCormick is the founder of Fearless Conversations, a Hayward-based consulting business that works primarily with nonprofits, schools and faith communities. With a background in religion (she is a former nun) and education (also a former teacher), McCormick has spent the last 35 years facilitating small and large groups in planning, team building and conflict resolution.
“My emphasis is on trying to create a culture of empathy practices within organizations,” she said.
The presentation is expected to last an hour and will be followed by a question and answer session. The program is part of the Foothill Club’s public lecture series and will take place April 26 at 10 a.m. at 20399 Park Place, Saratoga. The cost is $10 at the door.
Link: Supporting Hillary or Trump? Don’t get mad, keep discussion civil
