At a time when Americans’ angst is running deep and dangerous, RAFT (Reuniting America by Fostering Trust) is helping to calm the waters.
[RAFT for America is a movement dedicated to Reuniting America by breaking down barriers and Fostering Trust between people with different life experiences and perspectives.]
On whitewater rivers across the country, RAFT has recruited participants from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, asking them not only to embrace the challenge of navigating difficult rapids together but also to confront the challenge of navigating difficult conversations about issues important to their families, local communities, and the country as a whole.
What we’re finding is that while people may seem to disagree about almost everything, they discover something during their time together on the river that evokes a stronger sense of connection and a lot more agreement than they ever imagined.
It’s not surprising, actually. As one participant explained, “The social media world is so extreme and exaggerated. It’s just not like that in the real world when you meet new people and really listen to their hopes and dreams.”
Author Ken Powley (right) speak with a RAFT for America paddler near the French Broad River in North Carolina (Image courtesy of RAFT for America)
By giving people a chance to connect with others outside their bubble, RAFT for America reminds us all that polarization is a choice we make, and it doesn’t have to be this way. We can have differences – even profound differences – and still respect each other, and enjoy each other’s company.
When a black, progressive, Baptist minister and a white, conservative, MAGA Trump supporter emerged from a RAFT for America experience as best friends – and stayed that way despite their profound differences – it inspired all of us to realize that we can do the same.
It has become fashionable of late to be angry toward people with whom we disagree. However, the pendulum is starting to swing the other way.
We need a culture shift here, where the cool, fashionable thing is to be respectful, thoughtful, mature, intellectually curious, and open to the possibility that we can find value and insight from people who see things differently. It’s what we teach our children to do. Practicing what we teach our kids would do us all a world of good.
My love affair with rafting began in the early 1970s, when I launched my rafting company on the Lehigh River in northeastern Pennsylvania. Now, some 50 years later, I see a metaphor in rafting pointing towards important possibilities for America.
Like it or not, regardless of our differences, we are all in the same boat together. And the very first thing a rafting team needs to learn is that paddlers on the left side and paddlers on the right side need to stay in sync, to keep the boat from spinning out of control.
They also learn that “the best way through” most rapids is by staying away from the shorelines (for our metaphor’s purposes, “political extremes”), where eddies and obstacles are numerous, and keeping the boat near the center of the river, where the current is usually the strongest.
There’s an unmistakable lesson in rafting for Americans who want to make progress and avoid the dangers of extreme division by working together toward a shared goal: paddle downstream together.
