Condesc-truction

Many of the people I admire most are peace makers. They focus on building bridges instead of walls. They understand that any chance at bridge-building is grounded in their/our ability to foster trust. 

Dissimilar folks I observe seem bent on building walls instead of bridges. They demonstrate remarkable skill in undermining trustful engagement and collaboration. 

A trustless environment springs from condescension. How does condescension result in the destruction of trust?

• When my talking eats up more bandwidth than your talking.
• When a focus on weaknesses overwhelms a consideration of strengths.
• When attentiveness is fleeting and sporadic, falling victim to distraction.
• When assumptions based on labels blinds us to an individual's uniqueness.
• When engagements are viewed as contests, with commensurate score-keeping and subsequent rankings.

In our pursuit of betterness, knowing what doesn't work is just as informative as knowing what does. 

We can start deconstructing our condescension tendencies today.................if we choose, and if bridge-building is our intention.