海角大神

Today鈥檚 five hand-picked stories look at impeachment through two different lenses, a potential sea change in British politics, what pork says about Chinese identity, the importance of remembering the Tulsa race riot, and the power of blue socks.听

But first, this week I got a letter from a reader who, to me, embodies so much of what the Monitor stands for. To cope with the toxic partisanship today, Ken Jacobsen, a former teacher in Wisconsin, strives to be radically self-aware. I鈥檝e often thought of sharing with you all the poems he sends me, challenging himself to love more, to understand others more deeply, to forgive.

What he sent me this week was about a fellow he met who was wearing a red Trump 鈥淢ake America Great Again鈥� hat. Not long ago, this man told Ken, some guy wearing a Chicago Bears hat told him baldly, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like your hat!鈥� Where Ken lives is Green Bay Packers country, so the gentleman in the MAGA hat responded, 鈥淲ell, I don鈥檛 like your hat!鈥�

But he didn鈥檛 leave it at that. He said, 鈥淪o, let鈥檚 swap hats for a day. Then, I鈥檒l like you, and you鈥檒l like me.鈥� Ken doesn鈥檛 know if they swapped hats, but a genuine conversation followed.

How we talk to each other matters.听 suggests that we face a moral empathy gap. It鈥檚 not that one side has no morals, it鈥檚 that we don鈥檛 see that people prioritize universal values differently. Bridging that gap involves understanding where others are coming from enough to speak their language. Or, in one case, perhaps just trading hats.