What common ground do you share with those around you?

To live safely.

Equal rights for all adults.

Equal access to healthcare.

Less stress than what we have today in America. I’m not sure how to achieve it, but I feel like the stress and pace is ridiculous too often.

I’m fine interacting with person having different views as long as they are ready to listen and respect my views as well. They should be able to think logically and express it the same way. I can’t stand rambling much.

GQ.
I echo @JLeslie‘s response, firstly. Safety, security, freedom, liberty, autonomy, I feel those are values that most of us hold near to our hearts.

I want my family to be safe from things like poverty, hunger, suffering and war. I don’t want to ever have to fear a bomb dropping in my back yard. I want to be able to do work that I am proud of and to have a strong sense of community and connection to my neighbors and “neighbors,” since we live in a time where our community can span a lot further than the classic sense of the word. I also want to see my neighbors doing well, not just myself, and I think most people feel that way.

I hope, at least for fellow Americans, a love and respect for the Constitution should be a common ground. I see how that has been shaken in different ways over time, but I have hope that it’s still in our hearts.

Safety
Caring for your neighbor
Care of our land.

I’m not sure. Depending on the day, I switch between “we have so much in common simply as people” and “I can’t wrap my head around how many people think and act.”

What I do know is that it’s exhausting and I just want less people around me in general right now.

@cookieman I’d say that’s pretty common right now.

The inherent holy humanity within each person. Eitherr we are all God’s Children or none of us are.

Our common grounds are really more animal-like,or instinctively based.

We want what we need i.e. food,water,shelter etc.

And we want what’s best for our “tribe,” or friends /family.

We don’t want to experience pain, injury,or death.

Same with most living things…

Our differences are a strength though, not a weakness. At least in intellectual settings.

Common ground as I mentioned, as far as needs,is bad though.

The need/desire for things is also what leads to conflict,war,famine,slavery,death etc.

China has lots of people. Those people need resources. That common ground is why the have laid claim to the South China Sea.

I realize, or think that the OP was hoping more for a unity, low confrontation vibe. I just thought I’d put a different spin on it.

The question was asked by @Cruiser . I would like to mention the common ground we share. We aren’t fans of B.S. We are firmly rooted in what we believe in, but not unmoving (in a good way.) We are both passionate. We value respect. We value honesty, and accountability. I think we both like cars,and fast stuff. I’ve heard he is maybe a musician, so am I. We like Fluther, and try to be good contributors to threads. I could go on…

@Cruiser . I value /respect your opinions, and I extend my hand to you in good spirit. I’m sure I will intentionally, or unintentionally ruffle your feathers,but whilst I am an asshole, I can recognize a good man when I see one. I’m happy you have a healthy family, a good business, and the patience to at least pretend to take some of the things I say seriously.

Good will to all Fluther .

Peace n love.

Equality
Mutual respect
Honesty.

I really do my best to avoid people who are diametrically opposed to rational thought and socially responsible causes. I was raised around such people and have really had my fill of people who can’t see past their own bank accounts or property lines.

anti-colonialism

Love of our own family
A desire for enough – food, health and housing

In addition to what others have posted:
access to information, protection of the environment, the right for all eligible voters to vote, no discrimination by race, gender, sexual preference or religion, separation of church and state

If we compromise on democratic principles in the interest of security, then we invite authoritarians like Trump to seize power

Define ‘around me’. At work I am surrounded by co workers who put the welfare of the children in our care first. At home, I am alone with my son and he and I value knowledge and humour and looking after each other. My neighbours run the gambit but we appreciate the drive plowed and sanded in the winter and looking after our kids and the beautiful beach and counrtyside we live in. I don’t know them all that well. I think we all appreciate living in a safe democracy rated as one of the best in the world. Some of them were born here. Some of them moved here, like me. I haven’t run into anyone here in this country who thinks Trump is a good idea.

We breathe oxygen. That’s the only assumption of common ground I’m making about those around me (whoever they may be).

@cazzie Ones answer to this question does not have to be political or self serving and why I chose the tags I did and suggested one answer with their political armor tucked away in the closet.

@Cruiser but I share common ground with folks here about a particular politician in a foreign country. We probably wouldn’t agree on our local stuff, but we agree on that. Also, I think some of my neighbours like lutefisk and some don’t, so that wouldn’t be common ground.

@cazzie I guess I am looking for answers that highlight that sliver of ground we all universally share. If I employed politics and those who have enjoyed Swedish potato sausage as a barometer, I would have a much smaller piece of common turf than if I said I enjoy nature, music, the smell of a newborn just as much as the next guy. Your answers only underscore why I asked this question as I fear people have built such high walls to create unnecessary barriers to the other people around them who they truly do share common ground with but allow their prejudices to prevent them from ever appreciating this simple beauty of life we all share.

I connect to people through the arts, particularly music – participation /appreciation. It is my safe social space.

@Cruiser funny, the people I talk to are rather anti the construction of walls and unnecessary barriers. But, there is a strong history here of calling a nazi a nazi and a fascist a fascist. Perhaps people I’m around value a sense of history and a preservation of education and truth and actual enlightenment.

That most of us want to live in safety.
That most of us want to go home at the end of our work day.
That most of us want to be paid well for the work that we do.

@Cruiser

If you only wanted stock answers then why bother with the question in the first place?

You can’t ask a large group of people a question and then say, ‘but keep politics out of it’. It is because large groups of people exist together that we have politics. You can’t have one without the other. They are the actual cause and effect. Don’t ask me to ignore what some people are doing (basically, that is what you were doing with this question) so that you can feel good, validated or empowered about your political views. That’s not how groups of people work.

I don’t think he’s trying to feel good about his political views by asking you guys to leave politics out. I think he is trying to get answers that aren’t all the same. Politics was my first answer when I saw this and then I read the description. It’s probably almost everyone’s first answer and he just wanted variety.

Well, he calls it ‘political armour’ but for me, it isn’t armour at all. When I talk about my politics, I feel like I’m very much bearing my tender underbelly. I think the question has some conceptual flaws.

I took the political armor thing a bit differently but yeah I agree with you, I don’t consider my political views to be something that protects me or shields me from things. If anything, it just makes me vulnerable to stupid personal attacks.

@SergeantQueen She gets it. At face value the question may appear provocative…maybe I meant it to be. But my true intent was to challenge people to drill deep and elucidate what might be common ground we all share.

For some it’s a no brainer answer, for others, it’s apparently very difficult and why I asked it. The answer is there you just may have to shed your political armor, your prejudices. Like peeling back the layers of an onion….it’s there for you to see. What might it be???

@Darth_Algar I have yet to get any stock answers except yours.

@BellaB reminds me of a good point. I have a group of artist/designer types I connect with over shared interests in that area.

“Safe social space” — I like that.

Everyone I’ve met in my journey through life wants very similar things. A decent job with a path to promotion, maybe an occasional raise. A decent home and decent schools for their children. Safety and security both at home and at work. Where we run afoul is when we talk about how to create that environment. Or worse yet, when we try to impose our vision of what is decent onto others.

^^Somebody gets it^^

@Cruiser I think we all get that.

@janbb I believe you…just the second answer here so far to articulate this.

^^^ Hence my above post. There’s no point in posting a question if you only want specific, pre-approved replies.

Live a small life. Get small expectations.

Again @Darth_Algar Not looking for “stock” answers like yours….just honest real ones with an original thought attached.

Oh, he knows what he’s looking for, so he’ll know them when he sees them.