Compromise becomes unacceptable. In this atmosphere a community can seize up, like a deer frozen in onrushing headlights, and the kind of progress people want comes painfully and much too slowly, if at all. I suggest that social progress can be achieved most quickly when individuals commit themselves to some very basic and fundamental principles. Listening, genuine listening, is so important to this effort. Listening leads to understanding, understanding to appreciation, appreciation to finding common ground on which we can build community.
Respect is also essential.
Compassion and civility demand it. When we disagree we can do so without being disagreeable. We must set ourselves to the task of proving that civility can spread faster than cynicism. The challenge for all of us is to help break the cycle of despair by restoring a sense of hopefulness for the future through passionate, and compassionate, community action. This contract is based on the simple but powerful idea that we respect all people and the individual's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that we help those in need, and that we afford our children the same, or better, opportunities than we had.