Prelude to conversation…

“Even a piece of paper has 2 sides… ”
-Japanese proverb

So if even a piece of paper has 2 sides… imagine any society, community or country….One of the hopes of our democracy…our country…our community…our churches, synagogues, mosques, temples…our political system… is that we might understand and appreciate that we see things differently…that we all start …not at the same place but in different points of view.   Our hope is that an appreciation for this makes us stronger…more connected…more family.

A penny is the essential one of our monetary system, yet it looks out on the world from two points of view…and really in those two points of view there are many.
But the two are:   In God we trust   and   E Pluribus Unum.
Look at a penny and see if this is not so.
Some people look at the world through their trust in God… our penny proclaims this.
Some people look at the world through their trust in that “out of many we are one”…our penny proclaims this too.  They are different ways of seeing the world.  Yet they are not mutually exclusive.  They exist together on the penny…and in all our hopes.

It is, seemingly, a difficult thing to see both sides of a penny…or all sides of any issue.
Republicans see it one way (or many Republican ways) and Democrats see it another way (or many other Democratic ways).  Oppressors see things from their perspective, those who are oppressed see it from another.  Those in the government perceive things in ways different from those who elect them to serve.  Poor people see life one way, rich people see life differently.
We could go on.
The two sides of a penny are pressed together…connected.  A penny would not be complete without both sides.  A piece of paper is not a piece of paper with only one side.
Our communities are not whole unless we understand that there are at least two sides to every piece of paper.

What redeems a penny and a piece of paper is that they appreciate the other side.

One might say…that they listen with respect and generosity toward each other.  They attempt to understand what is on the other side.

May it be so!
Rev. Ted Anderson