Can We Talk?

I'm barely too young to remember Edward R. Murrow's This I Believe series of the 1950s, but I can only applaud the efforts of Jay Allison and others to resurrect the series for public radio. In the blizzard of spin and opinion that dominates the national dialogue, values and beliefs are rarely explicitely stated. They are relegated to shorthand and codewords meant to categorize broad swaths of people in groups--fundamentalist Christian, secular humanist, NASCAR mom, environmentalist. But values and beliefs are qualities of individual minds, not a form of collective property. And while opinions may be so much sailboat fuel, belief moves people to action. That is the beauty of it, and the peril. Find out what moves your neighbors; be open about what moves you.