Belonging

Belonging is the sense or perception that a person is seen, accepted, and valued within a larger group.

Bridge / Bridging / Bridger

A bridge is a source of stability, connection, and progress. Bridges connect people, surmount divides, and transcend differences.

Bridging connects people to one another and civic life. It is the practice of building perspective to deepen understanding and find common or higher ground. Bridging is a requisite of a healthy democracy as it facilitates peaceful problem-solving.

Bridgers are people who connect across differences. They purposefully engage with others who represent different worldviews and experiences. They act in good faith to find common or higher ground; they are not ‘in it to win it’ but rather to find a shared path forward.

Bridging strengthens democracy by making pluralism a participatory practice. In other words, Bridgers don’t expect people to just “get along” – through bridging, they create harmony.

Civic

Civic refers to public life: the arenas where people work, play, volunteer, socialize, and live in full view of others. Civic life is distinct from private life, which entails arenas where people participate with selective audiences, such as family and close friends. In civic spaces, one’s identity is constructed by other people based on the available evidence. To that end, digital platforms can also be civic arenas.

Examples of civic participation include:

Attending a city council meeting
Commenting on a public Facebook post about political, social, or community topics
Coaching a little league game
Volunteering at a school-supply drive for low-income families
Running for or serving as an elected official

Civic Bridgers

Civic Bridgers are leaders who heal polarization and champion pluralism in service of a healthy democracy. They achieve this by modeling and advocating for three norms:

Common humanity – The recognition that all people have equal inherent worth even while imperfection is the human condition. Common humanity allows Bridgers to live into their strengths, express their innermost values, celebrate wide-ranging expressions of self and culture, and build appreciation of diversity. Related virtues include: dignity, compassion, respect, autonomy, and fairness.
Mutual humility – The practice of seeking understanding, recognizing biases, embracing uncertainty, and modeling a growth mindset. Intellectual humility allows Civic Bridgers to uphold ancient wisdom, storytelling, and spiritual systems as sources of knowledge alongside scientific research and academic or institutional knowledge. Related virtues include: curiosity, love of learning, creativity, forgiveness, and perspective.
Shared accountability – The recognition that humans exist in community and that individual actions redound to the common good, or common harm, and we take responsibility accordingly. Shared accountability allows Civic Bridgers to shift from “calling out” to “calling in” and from “canceling” to “restoring” without undermining individual agency. Related virtues include: teamwork, bravery, self-regulation, and judgment.

Embedded into everyday interactions in both civic and private life, these principles distinguish Civic Bridgers from “conflict mediators” or “peacekeepers” who embody them primarily as a professional practice. Further, these principles liberate Civic Bridgers from self-reinforcing biases amplified by echo chambers in real life as well as filter bubbles on social media. In sum, these principles strengthen forbearance in the service of common good.

Civic Dialogue

Civic dialogue is the discussion of public topics about issues of common concern, such as legislation, cultural issues, and community challenges or opportunities. Civic dialogue may be sponsored by public institutions or private corporations or citizens. It can be organized or spontaneous. Examples include:

School board meetings
Resident community forums
Reddit discussions on current/local events
Community-based Facebook groups
Public debates between political candidates
YouTube content creators sharing their views on public topics
Podcasts on public topics

Common Ground

Common Ground represents similarities with others, such as an identity or a resonant idea/emotion, shared understanding, relatable experience, or mutual interest. Common ground is where people can be together respectfully.

As an example, here are some ways people might express their common ground on the topic of immigration:

We resonate with the reasons why people want to relocate to America.
We agree that it’s not fair when people break the law without consequences.
As parents, we relate to families who seek a safe place to raise their kids.
We understand that war and poverty pressure people to make difficult choices, even illegal choices, that they otherwise would not make under less stressful conditions.
We have both had frustrating experiences with language barriers.
As baseball fans, we see that immigration is a source of talent for our nation.
As people living paycheck to paycheck, we feel compassion toward people who have been displaced by poverty.

Higher Ground

Higher Ground is where we go when disagreements or differences become intractable and common ground becomes scarce or insufficient for bridging. Higher ground might be an agreement on a principle, value, or moral foundation.

Here are some ways people might express their higher ground on the topic of healthcare:

We believe all people are entitled to quality healthcare. [principle: inalienable right to care]
We value human life. [value: human life; moral foundation: sanctity]
The provision of healthcare is a moral necessity. [moral foundation: care]

Community

In a human/social context, Community describes a group of people connected by a shared purpose. A community may also include physical assets (community center, police station, football stadium, etc.), animals, plants, and ecological systems.

Democracy

Democracy is a model of governance built on the concept that people are participants, not subjects, who have a common and intrinsic right to freedom, equality, and justice. In a democracy, power is vested among the people, either directly or through elected representatives, and conflicts are resolved through peaceful means, such as elections, debate, and compromise. When guided by pluralistic norms, democracy provides a framework for managing conflict in a way that respects the rights and interests of all.

Democracy is a governance model: it advocates for shared participation in decision-making.
Pluralism is a representation model: it advocates for fair representation of all voices.
Bridging is a social cohesion model: it advocates for peaceful engagement and conflict resolution.

Together, these models distribute political power, protect minority rights, and prosper social cohesion through debate, negotiation, and consensus-building.

Diversity

Diversity describes the range of unique characteristics, traits, and experiences that characterize a group of people. Pluralism upholds diversity as a source of strength for a democracy.

Divide

A divide is a difference that encumbers connection and collaboration. A divide can be manifest (tangible, visible, and/or measurable) and/or perceived (psychological or emotional).

For example, people may express divides in ways such as:

I can’t be friends with that person because they voted for Jill Stein. [perceived]
We cannot relate to one another because we do not speak the same language. [manifest]
I have nothing in common with someone who is white. [perceived]
Wealthy people don’t understand the challenges of being poor. [perceived, possibly manifest]

Bridge Divides

When people bridge divides, they intentionally build understanding and respect across a difference or divide. In addition, they may find common ground or higher ground that guides decision-making or problem-solving.

Engagement

Engagement is active, purposeful participation. Participation may be mobilized by intrinsic or extrinsic motivators. Examples may include:

Extrinsic (external, typically measurable): paycheck, visible improvement to community, fame, visibility, power
Intrinsic (internal, typically affective): enjoyment, growth, skill/knowledge mastery, passion, autonomy, sense of purpose or meaning, curiosity or exploration, self-expression, flow, satisfaction or achievement, desire for challenge

Fairness

Fairness means no free riders – everyone shows up and contributes in accordance with their resources and capacity within the context of the rules and/or law. Fairness means rule breakers face logical and proportionate consequences. Fairness also means equal opportunity, and the perception that it’s fair to ‘level the playing field’ when opportunity isn’t equal. In order to communicate this concept without implying a political ideology, Fairness may be used as a proxy term to signify the broader concepts of equity and equality.

Equality

Equality enables every single person to have their human needs met to be able to fully show up and contribute to society as a whole person.

Equity

Equity answers opportunity gaps by making adjustments for disparities in circumstances. For example, equity in education means providing reading intervention services for students who struggle with literacy.

Freedom

Freedom is the right to make one’s own choices — so long as they don’t violate the freedom of others — without interference or coercion from the government.

Immersive

In the context of bridging, an immersive experience commands a person’s full and active participation: they engage all of their cognitive and sensory faculties to learn with and from others.

Inclusive

In the context of bridging, Inclusive means intentionally designed for diverse people to participate and experience belonging and respect. A person might experience an inherent (non-intentional) sense of inclusion in a group of people of their same gender, for example. However, in the context of bridging, an inclusive practice reaches beyond identity markers on purpose to promote pluralism.

Leader

A leader is a person who influences others to think or act in alignment with their objectives.

A formal leader (such as a workplace supervisor) assumes ultimate responsibility for specific goals and spearheads success by setting a vision, guiding decision-making, and delegating responsibility among team members.
An informal leader (such as in a friend group) often rises to a position of influence by consistently modeling commonly shared character virtues.
An ethical leader demonstrates integrity, responsibility, and accountability, guiding others with fairness and respect while serving the greater good.

Nonpartisan

Nonpartisan means not aligned with a political party or ideology.

Patriotism

In the context of a pluralistic democracy, patriotism is a sense of pride in the organizing principles of freedom, equality, and justice. Patriotism motivates civic participation such as voting, paying taxes, volunteering, and attending public school. In the United States of America, patriotism often stems from a commitment to the unofficial motto "E Pluribus Unum" (Latin for "Out of Many, One"). Patriotism (pride in principles/values) is not the same as nationalism (pride in cultural history markers such as race, religion, or language).

Pluralism

Pluralism is a worldview that embraces a multiplicity of identities, viewpoints, experiences, and values as a source of strength rather than division. This worldview enables people to live together in a positive peace – where people model three pluralistic norms:

Common humanity – The recognition that all people have equal inherent worth even while imperfection is the human condition. Common humanity allows us to live into our strengths, express our innermost values, celebrate wide-ranging expressions of self and culture, and build appreciation of diversity. Related virtues include: dignity, compassion, respect, autonomy, and fairness.
Intellectual humility – The practice of seeking understanding, recognizing biases, embracing uncertainty, and modeling a growth mindset. Intellectual humility allows us to uphold ancient wisdom, storytelling, and spiritual systems as sources of knowledge alongside scientific research and academic or institutional knowledge. Related virtues include: curiosity, love of learning, creativity, forgiveness, and perspective.
Shared accountability – The recognition that we exist in community and that individual actions redound to the common good, or common harm, and we take responsibility accordingly. Shared accountability allows us to shift from “calling out” to “calling in” and from “canceling” to “restoring” without undermining individual agency. Related virtues include: teamwork, bravery, self-regulation, and judgment.

Polarization

The real or perceived widening of differences in viewpoints, coupled with animosity for other views and for the people who hold them.

Rural

Rural areas are often characterized by low levels of population density proportionate to their geographic area. Most land mass is wild, farmed, or unoccupied. Rural areas may be identified by their large expanses of fields or woods, septic systems, and visible stars at night. In rural areas, governments may be combined across cities or counties and often consist of a small number of publicly elected officials or volunteers.

Service

Service is working on behalf of the common good. In the context of Civic Bridgers, service is undertaken voluntarily and with the goal of strengthening democracy.

Urban

Urban areas are characterized by high levels of population density proportionate to their geographic area. Most land mass is used for housing, commerce, transportation, and government. Cities may be identified by their curbs, common sewer systems, and street lights. In urban areas, governments often match or exceed the scale of small countries and consist of dozens or hundreds of publicly elected officials.