When someone brings up a fear or worry, don’t ignore or refute it. Invite people to share personal stories about what led them to have those fears. This can be difficult; what if someone’s fear seems ridiculous? In that case, acknowledge the deeper fear; for example, acknowledge that the world does seem out of control sometimes. Loyalty, tradition and fairness are tools that protect us from the unknown. Affirm the value of those tools. STEP 4 STEP 5 Once you understand how the information is being coded, then you can talk about facts. Most people want to act on what they see as valid information, but information is always presented in a package of symbolic meaning. – Christopher Wolsko and Elizabeth Marino “The key to sanity is to engage your world but to disengage your ego — to refrain from taking a sort of destructive delight in derogating the ‘problem’ individual or group. We have reached a point in these culture wars where we have begun to fetishize the enemy: ‘Can you believe this? They are so despicable!’ This is a dangerous path towards dehumanization,” Wolsko said. “Be an informed citizen but not a hateful citizen. I keep hope alive by not participating in hate.” Wolsko observes that doing things that can make us happier in the moment — like putting away phones during dinner — have lasting positive effects.“Do the things in your life right now that create meaningful relationships,” he suggested. “That’s what’s going to make long-term change.” Self-care is important, too. “Beth and I have a farm. Being outside, being engaged in a simple connection with the earth and its bounty that sustains us is super grounding.” REMEMBER THAT THINGS CAN CHANGE Kathleen Ferguson Carlson,’99, is an Oregon Health & Science University professor of public health and the founding director of OHSU’s groundbreaking Gun Violence Prevention Research Center (bit.ly/GVPRC). A biology graduate, she credits OSU professor Anne Rossignol for introducing her to the injury prevention side of public health. But at the beginning of Carlson’s career, academic discussion of firearm-associated injury — to say nothing of research into its causes or prevention — was taboo. (Google “NRA versus CDC” to get the picture.) → Kathleen Ferguson Carlson started the Gun Violence Prevention Research Center at OHSU. Then came the tragic, repeating pattern of mass shootings. Carlson had elementary school-age children herself when 20 children and six adults died at Sandy Hook in December 2012. Five months later, tragedy came home. Carlson and her family had spent the day at Cannon Beach. “It was one of those rare, warm, still days at the coast in May — just magical, you know? I got the call, and I just collapsed.” She had lost her grandfather, a World War II combat veteran, to firearm suicide.“It wasn’t long after we lost my grandma to an illness. I knew he was at risk,” she said. “Why did he have guns in the house?” Originally from small-town Veneta, Carlson was raised in a family that used firearms for hunting, sport 37 PAGE HOW TO KEEP HOPE ALIVE
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