Understanding our fault lines

Fault lines. In geology. Lines that trace fractures in the earth's crust. Planes of rock shift and quake against one another, along those lines.

Fault lines. In society. Lines that trace our planes of abrasion, misunderstanding, bias. It was the acclaimed journalist Robert C. Maynard who developed the concept that we shape our views around "fault lines" of race, class, gender, geography and generation. I learned about it through my daughter, a wide-open-mind journalism student at the University of Missouri. Maynard believed that journalists should acknowledge society's fault lines as they research issues and report the news. Bring honesty, clarity, depth to their work.

Good advice for all of us. To acknowledge that we should strive to accept, respect, understand the fault lines that divide us and sometimes unite us. And the ones in between that seem less clear or become intertwined. Together making issues, problems, opportunities complex. We can even add a few more fault lines such as sexual orientation or disability or even line of work or education. Dissecting these push us to see how thought and emotion evolve in people's lives, the changing ways we see ourselves and each other. How they influence communities, society.

We talk a lot these days about appreciating diversity, but that's easy if it's just on the surface.  Utilizing diversity is not so easy. With all of our challenges right now...

Educating our children to become resourceful, thinking adults. To become leaders of strong communities and teams that innovate, create, explore. Building a healthier, more equitable economy that strengthens the middle class. And leads many, many out of poverty. With sustainability. Making our healthcare system efficient and effective and fair. Developing immigration policies that are rational and humane. And celebrates the synergy that comes from new faces, new minds, new steps toward new beginnings...

Our politicians are taking the easy route. Speaking out of both sides of their mouths. Saying that they embrace diversity and society's complexities. But then exploiting and distorting the fault lines within that diversity. Making our society weaker, not stronger. Stagnant, not moving.

It's not a matter of erasing fault lines to get to solutions. Or ignoring them. Certainly not deepening them. It's better, healthy to acknowledge them. Full on. And let them inform our views. Even become incorporated. The old adage, walking a mile in someone else's shoes. Trying hard to understand a perspective, a choice that's different than your own. Maybe pushing you to change an opinion, an action. And vice versa. Arguing. Debating. Finding common ground, but at the same time employing our differences. Fault lines yes make this coming to a decision, making public policy, building community difficult, but they hold a deep well of energy. And ideas. So to move forward. Forward. There are threads that unite. Common bonds and common goals. But our differences, our diversity, even our fault lines will weave a stronger, thicker, more colorful cloth. Of human beings trying to figure out this whole, messy, complicated idea of life. Building a society. Together. Not apart. 

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. ~John F. Kennedy

We are a nation of communities... a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky. ~ George H.W. Bush

Our cultural strength has always been derived from our diversity of understanding and experience. ~ Yo-Yo Ma

Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.  ~Malcolm Forbes

It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength. ~ Maya Angelou

Read about Robert Maynard's daughter, Nancy, who died too young in 1998---here.