The title carries two strong terms: Trust & Agreement. I'm not sure I actually know what they even mean. However, I am going to try and write through my understanding.
As I observed my life and the events happening to myself, my friends, and the political process. I realized a distinct lack of understanding between people holding different beliefs. There's no place where this becomes more clear or flag-wavy than in national politics. One side waves a blue flag the other red. The battle lines are drone, colors chosen, and beliefs installed by the voices of people calling themselves leaders. The results - seem to me - that not much gets accomplished. How could they? People don't trust each other and they certainly don't agree on how things should operate.
Let me explore trust a little. Much of the trust we have comes from life experience. Each time we are tricked or deceived or the outcomes don't meet the expectations we have, we become a bit more cautious. If a cat gets excited and claws your face, you tend not to blame the cat 100% but you definitely don't trust it when your face is within reach. Experience helps determine how much you trust certain things.
Agreement stems from the values we hold. Those values are created as we grow alongside the beliefs we cultivate. Our exposure to the world coupled with the degree of safety we feel when expressing ourselves helps determine who we can agree with. A simple agreement is easy.
a) Do you want Mexican or Chinese for dinner?
b) Let's do Mexican, we had Chinese last night.
c) Perfect. I was craving a burrito.
This is an example of agreement. Things can happen when you agree with people. In this scenario, (a & b) will be eating soon.
As complexity increases, it gets more and more difficult to agree. Sometimes, we try to agree on a concept that has moving variables. In cases like this, all parties may agree, but then some get an advantage while others experience a disadvantage. If the results can't be changed, the losing party will move to their next negotiation with more experience and less willingness to agree so quickly.
In this piece so far, it seems that life experience plays a big role in both trust and agreement. I'll continue exploring these two concepts as I move forward.
What experiences do you have with trust and agreement?
As I observed my life and the events happening to myself, my friends, and the political process. I realized a distinct lack of understanding between people holding different beliefs. There's no place where this becomes more clear or flag-wavy than in national politics. One side waves a blue flag the other red. The battle lines are drone, colors chosen, and beliefs installed by the voices of people calling themselves leaders. The results - seem to me - that not much gets accomplished. How could they? People don't trust each other and they certainly don't agree on how things should operate.
Let me explore trust a little. Much of the trust we have comes from life experience. Each time we are tricked or deceived or the outcomes don't meet the expectations we have, we become a bit more cautious. If a cat gets excited and claws your face, you tend not to blame the cat 100% but you definitely don't trust it when your face is within reach. Experience helps determine how much you trust certain things.
Agreement stems from the values we hold. Those values are created as we grow alongside the beliefs we cultivate. Our exposure to the world coupled with the degree of safety we feel when expressing ourselves helps determine who we can agree with. A simple agreement is easy.
a) Do you want Mexican or Chinese for dinner?
b) Let's do Mexican, we had Chinese last night.
c) Perfect. I was craving a burrito.
This is an example of agreement. Things can happen when you agree with people. In this scenario, (a & b) will be eating soon.
As complexity increases, it gets more and more difficult to agree. Sometimes, we try to agree on a concept that has moving variables. In cases like this, all parties may agree, but then some get an advantage while others experience a disadvantage. If the results can't be changed, the losing party will move to their next negotiation with more experience and less willingness to agree so quickly.
In this piece so far, it seems that life experience plays a big role in both trust and agreement. I'll continue exploring these two concepts as I move forward.
What experiences do you have with trust and agreement?
When it comes to agreement - I want to think about it some more. I value getting an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas where there is a respectful back and forth. Where there isn't one side bullying or taking advantage of the other group.
The ultimate relationship in my opinion isn't with people that think like us but with people that we can have a healthy disagreement with.
Interesting post and discussion.