Coming Together

Coming Together

We are living in a very tumultuous time politically and socially. There is no need for me to point out the difficulties our country and our state face at this time. The economy lags, state budgets are in the toilets, the unemployment numbers are unacceptable and we face an ever growing national deficit. This doesn't even count the racial and ethnic tensions that exists all over the country (but in AZ particular) regarding illegal immigration and the passage of SB1070.

As human beings, we are destined to have opinions. And of course each of us believes that our opinion is always the "correct opinion" we believe that our opinions are always the "correct opinion". I find myself writing this blog because of the increase in polarization that we are experiencing as citizens of this country. Are there common themes in what we want as a state, as a country? Can we work to agreement on these? Why does everything have to be so divisive? As a clinically trained social worker, I learned that "black and white" thinking is a very dangerous thing. I also learned when doing solution-focused therapy, that there is a huge need to look for the "exception" and build on that as a strength. And lastly, one of my favorite books of all times, "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" talks about the need to "Seek first to understand and then to be understood".

Social Workers are political. We are very involved in politics at many levels because so much of our profession is impacted by larger policy decisions. The AZ Chapter Political Action for Candidate Election just completed an endorsement list for the upcoming primary. Click here to see who the AZ Chapter has endorsed in these primary races. It is imperative that we work to get the right people elected (both Republican and Democrat), who will work together and work FOR the state of Arizona. We need people who will listen to the needs of the state and act on it's behalf.