Degrees of Agree
Given all of the division and negativity around us, Matt was inspired to read the book “A Team of Rivals” about Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. He was looking for clues on how, during the most divided time in American History, our President was able to unite a divided North and bring the Confederacy back into the Union.
Fast forward over a hundred years later, and Republican President Ronald Reagan was able to have a deep and trusting relationship with his Democratic and ideological rival, Tip O’Neil. Nowadays, if someone tries to work across the aisle, they are chastised and treated as an outcast.
Often, we glamorize the past, thinking about the “good ole days”. While those days aren't coming back, we can learn from them and find ways to unite us rather than divide us.
We often hear people say "let’s agree to disagree." What if, instead, we focused on the degrees that we agree.
From our conversations with folks in our neighborhood and around town, it seems that most people want relatively the same things. And, it’s so much healthier and better to love one another than to criticize, condemn, or complain.
In early summer, we saw our town torn apart by magnified divisions. But by mid-summer, we were all together enjoying concerts in the park, fireworks and soon, Newcastle Days. And now we are facing a pretty big election. But we have to ask the question, is it possible to be divided and united at the same time?
Science supports the idea that community matters, that loving your neighbor and focusing on the positive, regardless of your differences, can improve your overall health. We were reminded of the Roseto study. (Roseto is a city in Pennsylvania known in the fields of sociology and cardiology for the Roseto effect, wherein the close-knit Italian American community exhibited half the national average rate of heart disease in the mid-20th century. )This town demonstrated that the key to longevity and happiness (other than genetics) was - quite simply - neighborly love. It didn't matter what they ate or drank, whether they exercised or not. What mattered was their community, and how they treated each other.
At the risk of oversimplifying some very complex challenges we face as a society, we wanted to share some of our guiding principles for how we try to show up in our community for our friends, strangers, and even our “competitors”.
We don’t nail these all the time yet we make a concerted effort to:
Practice the first assumption - Assume positive intent
Recognize your bias and try to walk in their shoes
Be patient and actively listen, we have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason
Be curious and seek to understand
Have empathy, we’re all fighting some kind of battle
Respect one another
Find common ground or your degrees of agree
With Love,
Matt and Christina
Matt & Christina are Team Skally, top real estate agents in the Seattle Metro with expertise in luxury homes on the Eastside including Bellevue, Newcastle, Mercer Island, Renton and Issaquah. Their client testimonials say it all - they deliver exceptional service and record-breaking results. Recognized as top agents on social media by Property Sparks, Diamond Award winners for best client service, Nextdoor’s Neighborhood Faves and regularly featured in online and print publications including Greet - Newcastle & Newport Hills Magazine. In addition to serving clients, Matt and Christina love family time with their two boys and two Goldendoodles as well as volunteering in the community.