Two days ago while in a daunting line at an airport, I heard one silver-haired man say to another about Hurricane Helene that just devastated parts of the US:
"When the hurricane came off the gulf it hadn't picked up any water, but somehow it rained over sixteen inches."
"You know they can control the weather now. You've never heard of weather manipulation?"
"Their target was Spruce Pine in North Carolina. Every single computer chip in the world has a crystal that comes from there."
"They are trying to control things politically because of the election."
"You heard about what they did with the wildfires in Hawaii using the lasers from space?"
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Okay, confession: my first impulse is that I wanted to text someone or post somewhere about the wacky conversation I'd just overheard: about how people are so gullible or, more generously, isn't it crazy how we can so easily find ourselves in these narrow algorithmic internet bubbles that keep us in a perpetual rabbit hole reality.
But instead, I remained curious. Not necessarily curious about the content of what this guy was saying, though it turns out that some of his facts may have been on target, even if his conclusions seem way off base—the thing about chip manufacturing and Spruce Pine, for instance, was widely reported.
But I held curiosity instead about him as a person and about me and about all of us.
I wondered: how did he get there with these beliefs? Has it impacted his life and relationships? What are holiday conversations like for his family?
And what about me: surely there are absolute certainties that I'm believing right now that may turn out later to have been wrong — am I holding those in a way now that invites feedback and conversation or am I doubling down and become narrower and less approachable?
And also about all of us: we are all wrong about some things. If we weren't, there'd never be any space for learning and growth. So knowing that, about me and about you, how can we live in a way that both honors our current state while keeping a posture of teachability?
