Disagreement is not what keeps people apart. What keeps people apart is the refusal to acknowledge, explore and resolve their disagreements.

Indeed, in every disagreement is the potential for agreement and cooperation. The pathway to that cooperation is respectful engagement.

The fact that you disagree on a particular issue means that at some level an agreement already exists. Because you and the other side already agree that the issue is important.

Acknowledge that starting point and work your way forward. Agree that you disagree about something meaningful, and begin to discover other ways in which you can agree.

Disagreement is possible only when there is somehow, somewhere, some common ground. Persist in identifying and respecting that common ground, and then persist in building upon it.

When you are sincerely passionate about your position, make positive use of that passion. Do the difficult work to find and to implement new ways to agree and cooperate.

— Ralph Marston