This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I wrote a blog a day or so ago suggesting that democracy as we know it in the United States is in the cross-hairs.

One of the reasons is that many Republicans still follow Donald Trump and wish for a return to autocratic rule under him, even if that requires violence and insurrection.  What’s more, it is incredible to note that Trump still has not conceded the last presidential election to Joseph Biden.

Well, in response to my notions of actions individuals could take in the face of huge, anti-democracy risks, one of my readers got back to me by agreeing with my blog, with one exception.

This individual suggested that my advocacy for empathy was misplaced, at least on occasion, because, if you employed the trait and had to deal with others who wished you only ill, one-way empathy would not work. 

Point made.

Still, I believe empathy is a solid concept to employ as an individual.

The definition of the term is this:

“The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”

There, good words, which capture exactly my meaning.  Another way to put is that what you see often depends on where you sit.  So, if you try to sit in another’s place, you come to understand that person’s position, even if you don’t agree with it. 

It would be all the better, of course, if one person’s empathy would lead to another person’s reciprocity.

My friend when one person’s empathy is met with another person’s confrontation, all is lost.  My friend also added thoughtful comments on what individuals could do to support democracy in this country.  His list:

• Speak up

• Remind others of the values of democracy and the responsibility to safeguard them

• Articulate consequences of embracing autocratic perspectives and what we lose by promoting them

• Spend time with those most likely to lose the most or who feel homeless

• Read, read, read

• Exercise the right to vote

All good points, worthy of more reflection.