"How could you vote for _________?" That's how the interchange begins. Now it's up to you whether to respond in like kind and start the argument, or you could ask a simple question that disarms the other person and begin a civil conversation. The choice is yours.

Today's social media is filled with people spewing vitriol, which leads to face-to-face arguments in our walk from time to time. It affects us all, even our family gatherings. Currently, the majority of this type of interchange is wrapped around politics. Watch just about any news talk show, and you will see the host provoking the person (or persons) being interviewed into an argumentative position. The person interviewed then feels obligated to respond in like manner. Isn't there someone that could show us how to have a civil conversation, regardless of the subject matter or provocation? There is. He walked among us some 2,000 years ago, and His approach still works today.