Last week while meeting with a group of education leaders in Seattle I heard the same questions I’ve come to expect after a workshop on the Dignity Index: 

The devastation caused by the recent fires in Los Angeles has been heartbreaking. The loss of life and property, and the grief that so many are experiencing, remind us of the vulnerability of everything in life.

As we prepare to close the final pages of 2024 – reflecting on successes and disappointments; challenges and surprises – I’m also preparing to close a chapter of my life which began nine years ago. One that has brought me immense growth and satisfaction. 

If you’re like me and millions of Americans, you’re on the move for the holidays. I set off last weekend to meet 4 of my 5 children (Sam sadly has to work), their two spouses, my wife, my 4 grandchildren and more than a dozen cousins.

As they do each December, Merriam-Webster recently announced its word of the year. “Polarization” is the selection for 2024, which their dictionary defines as “division into two sharply distinct opposites.”

Last week, I had the privilege of attending a remarkable event in Denver—a gathering of civic leaders, religious teachers, and community members. The theme of the gathering was “Repairing the Breach,” a conversation focused on bridging cultural and political divides.

I was watching the NFL yesterday and noticed the many causes that players were celebrating with their cleats.  I saw the American Cancer Society, and yes Special Olympics, and many others.  

It’s almost Thanksgiving. For many of us, that means gathering with family members around the holiday table and talking to relatives who oppose our politics.

Two years ago, my organization, the Dignity Index, issued a warning to our country: Our national addiction to dehumanizing contempt had reached a point at which the future of the country was at stake. Contempt, not policy differences, our data suggested, is tearing us apart.

Here’s one of the biggest paradoxes we face now in the United States – and it’s especially relevant after campaign season:   

The use of contempt is rising -- even as unhappiness with contempt is also rising. 

It would be hard to imagine a more unlikely series of political events than those of the last few days and weeks.

We couldn’t be more different. 

If you ask us to list the things we disagree on, you’d be waiting a while.

Millions of us will tune in on Thursday to watch the first of the two debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. And millions of us will rant at our screens and mock and condemn whichever candidate we oppose.

Last week, I visited Elmwood Elementary School in Naperville, Illinois where students, teachers, parents, and administrators are doing amazing work with social and emotional learning strategies and programs.

Tim Shriver created The Dignity Index to shift how we interact with other people in all facets of life — from public and political conversations to daily engagements with those who are different from us or who hold views we don’t share.

Timothy Shriver, CEO of Unite, spoke at the Gardner Policy Institute on Friday about the importance of respecting those with differing opinions and “disagreeing better.”

Is talking politics in the workplace a bad idea? Is talking politics in general a bad idea? Plenty of Americans think so. For a long time, I did too. 

An oral historian, a civic designer and the head of a nonprofit focused on bringing dignity back to politics are among the new class of fellows supported by Emerson Collective, the organization founded by Laurene Powell Jobs.

When Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, agreed to film an advertisement for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s “Disagree Better” initiative, he knew just who he would ask.

If you’re tired of insult-slinging and debates that go in circles, you’re not alone.