Communication—The Birth of Deadlock

Communication—The Birth of Deadlock

When we wake up in the morning and turn on the news, we learn that, whether in the present or in the future, the world we live in is facing enormous trouble. We hear about people in distant countries suffering from poverty and illness, and we hear about neighbors nearby struggling to make ends meet. We hear about obesity, and we hear about hunger. There are floods, and there are droughts. There are torrential rains, and there are fires. We hear about companies creating jobs and about miraculous innovations, but we also hear about environmental disasters, social injustice, and the failure of democracy to live up to its promise.

Then we spill our coffee (or the kids do), we have to change into another shirt, and rush off to work—continuing on with our lives.

When we think about our children's future, our grandchildren's future, and indeed the future of everyone on this planet, there is so much to worry about. These concerns are tangled together like a knotted mass of thread. Some people refer to them broadly as “social justice,” “public safety,” “sustainable development,” or “public health.” But all of these terms are too abstract. If we pause and think carefully about these issues, we begin to ask more fundamental questions. For example: What are the most serious problems? How did they come about? What should we do?

We find that one of the most serious problems is our profound lack of consensus about the nature of these issues and how to solve them.

Which problems are the most urgent? We disagree. Government or market? We do not agree. Of science, the Bible, and other ways of seeking truth, which comes closer to the truth? We are divided on that as well. Often, we cannot even reach agreement on how to understand the present situation, let alone on what kind of future we want and how to achieve it. In the news, we see all kinds of divisions and deadlocks. If we think about our own communities and organizations, the same thing is everywhere.

So what should we do? How can we break the deadlock and reach agreement?

Perhaps we need to start with each person and build consensus step by step. But we also worry: “Do we really have that much time?” The problems are already urgent.

Perhaps we should try to persuade key decision-makers—the people in positions of power who could turn things around immediately.

Perhaps we should gather like-minded people and encourage them to raise their voices—to vote, to donate, to boycott, to consume responsibly, to sign petitions, and to speak with business leaders or political representatives.

All of these possible courses of action have one thing in common—we need to talk with other people.