Taking things less personally
I greatly enjoy talking with people in person (outdoors of course) these days about interesting things because it&#x27;s such a rare occurrence... One of the most troubling things though is how many people get easily wound up (and aren&#x27;t forgiving) about misunderstandings in conversations.<p>People seem to be increasingly concrete in their judgements about social, economic, and political issues that have nothing to do with them as individuals, and often it results in fighting words, and that&#x27;s crazy to me. A deep polarization is coming from many fronts, and it also over-emphasizes issues, making people far more offensive and defensive than before -- possibly heightened because of pandemic-related isolation and economic stress.<p>I think a lot of people judge the world based on tropes... The small-minded view based only on the people they&#x27;ve observed, rather than being able to place themselves in the shoes of others they don&#x27;t know, and it&#x27;s a growing problem when narrowly focused people like this lead and make decisions for us all. I think we really need to reject the use of tropes in discussions as fact because it&#x27;s toxic, but at the same time, I work hard to not be triggered by anything that&#x27;s well intended. We all make mistakes, and as long as you can choose to walk away, being misunderstood is a small price to pay for regular human communication.