Pull Up A Chair

Today I sat down with Daniel Biss.

If that surprises you, good.

I’m an Orthodox Jewish woman. Daniel is a progressive Democrat. We don’t agree on everything. And we are not supposed to.

Joining us was Bruce Leon, a lifelong Democrat, businessman, philanthropist, and one of the greatest community builders I know. Bruce has spent decades building schools, synagogues, businesses, friendships, and opportunities for people across Chicago. During COVID, when families were struggling to keep roofs over their heads, Bruce quietly stepped in to help many of them survive. His generosity has touched Jewish families, Black families, Hispanic families, immigrant families, and countless others. He understands something many people have forgotten…communities are not built through anger and screaming past one another. They are built through trust, love, and friendship…and that’s what the three of us were connecting about today.

This encounter surprised many of my community who saw us together, and I believe it’s because somewhere along the way many of us have forgotten something important …we’re allowed to dialogue with one another especially those that we don’t completely align with, in fact it’s encouraged.

I grew up in a refugee family that escaped the Soviet Union. I know what happens when people stop seeing each other as human beings and start seeing each other as labels.

I’ve spent most of my adult life building communities. Some of the friends  I love most don’t vote like me, pray like me, or live like me.

One of the most beloved friends in my life is a lesbian woman who has been with her partner for more than 30 years. She’s been in my life for over two decades. In many ways, she’s like a second mother to me. She has loved me through some of my hardest moments and loves my children as if they were her own. We don’t share the same politics. We don’t share the same religious beliefs. We don’t share the same life experience.

What we share is love. And that’s the point.

My life has always been bigger than a political tribe. It includes Jews, Christians, Muslims, Israelis, Arabs, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, immigrants, refugees, business owners, clergy, moms, activists, and people who simply want to live normal joyous lives.

And here’s what I’ve learned…most people are not the extremes. Most people are tired. They are tired of being told who to hate, of being sorted into teams, and of being told that talking to someone different is betrayal.

The loudest voices in the room are not the majority. The builders are the majority.  The bridge-builders, the friends raising children, running businesses, volunteering, showing up for neighbors, and trying to leave the world a little better than they found it.

That’s who I’m interested in building with. There need not be another movement of the left nor another movement of the right.

We desperately need and deserve a movement of friends who still believe conversation is possible. Friends who believe that human beings are more complicated than the labels we place on them.

We need friends who  believe kindness is strength.

Friends who  believe communities are built person by person, conversation by conversation, table by table.

So my invite is simple…if  you are exhausted by the screaming and ready to start building through kindness and love,  pull up a chair.

There’s room at this table for you.

Anna@ThisConvo.com