Today marks day four of Chicago Ideas Week, (TED-like event, for the non-Chicagoan readers), and it has me thinking, crusaders.
We live in a world full of more and more opinions, more and more places to share them, and fewer and fewer filters.
And I’m not here to say that opinions are bad, as the saying goes, we’re all entitled to them, but their value depends on how informed they are, and that bar seems to move around a lot.
But like I said, Ideas Week has me wondering what would happen if we spent less time shouting our opinions and more time listening. Would there be more room for ideas? And I mean big, world-changing ideas.
Take Spirit Day, for example, which just so happens to be today. It’s a day to unite and speak out against bullying, particularly against LGBTQ youth. Those are the kinds of ideas we need today, ones that promote unity.
People are wearing purple to support LGBTQ youth and stand up against bullying and harassment. 💜 #SpiritDay https://t.co/mLDbxYLY0t
— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) October 19, 2017
If only every Moment on Twitter could be so heartwarming.
I won’t waste time outlining the appropriateness and necessity of an anti-bullying campaign living and breathing on Twitter, I hope we’ve all learned that lesson in the last 10 months (or so), but I will say this — Now, more than ever is the time to truly listen to one another.
It’s not hard to shout opinions into the void of the internet, what is hard is actually listening to those that oppose your own. I’m not saying they’ll be right. I am saying that there is value in listening.
So as we consider the big ideas out there, here’s a small one to start with — be kind.
…bi-daily smile…
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