So remember, if you don’t want to relive the disasters of the past, if you wish to replicate the successes of history, you should seek to understand that which has already occurred. History is not always a sign of what’s to come if you travel a well-trodden path, but at least you’ll know what’s happened before, and maybe how to make things as good or better than they’ve been.

It’s not so easy being the kind of person others won’t be let down by, assuming they try to follow in their footsteps. You’d be surprised how many choose people not worthy of their admiration, much less their allegiance. If you can’t imagine yourself being happy to be like that person as they are in later life, perhaps they aren’t someone you ought to count a role model.

Summing up, if you want people to consider you a useful, truthful source of information, you need to understand being even-handed—treating people with fairness, no matter their perspective or identity—will go a long way toward that end. That includes making sure those from whom you get additional information take the same approach. If you fail act impartially where facts are concerned, count on people not being willing to trust what you say, barring corrective action on your part.

In past, I’ve been willing to appease. At this point in my life, I’ve come to the conclusion it’s almost never a reasonable course. So if you’re getting into, or find yourself already in a situation where appeasement is an integral part, it might be time to consider letting it go.

It’s just not so difficult to grasp. People don’t reach across the aisle, because after years and years taken to decide what they believe and why, they’re not going to be easily swayed to take actions that are in contrast to wisdom gained. What side of the aisle they’re on doesn’t change that. To expect them to act otherwise is to attempt to shift how people view them because they won’t back down, nothing more as a rule.

You may consider ownership to be some sort of wrongheaded world view. I challenge you to consider the little or much you possess being the potential target of the uncouth and uncaring. Where does your right to ownership end, and their right to take that which you’ve carefully worked to keep, begin? For my part, I fully support the idea of private property, not to be taken or used without permission, by those to whom it doesn’t belong.