Preparing for 2025 is challenging like no other year in my lifetime — and that’s almost 91 years.

What to do?

First, where are we? Informed observers tell us:

• The 2024 elections leave many Americans elated, many devastated, others apprehensive, and still others simply tuned out. 
• The Merriam-Webster word of the year for 2024 is polarization.
• Polls suggest most Americans are exhausted by our politics.
• Reactions to the president-elect are the stuff of daily drama.
• Trust in our institutions and our leaders is at an all-time low.
• Politics are tearing families and friends apart. 
• Politically driven violence is increasing.

There is much more, of course. Global unrest. Regional wars, impending famine, fires, floods, and drought, struggling environments. The list seems endless.

As we catch our breaths during this Holiday Season, while the spirit of giving still rules our days, we can also gift ourselves. We can cherish and reinforce our personal circles, despite politics. 

As noted historian, Heather Cox Richardson, observed recently, “The future is not yet written.” We will write it, together, in 2025 in remarkable ways and with unpredictable consequences. The notion that “life is full of surprises” may just outdo itself!

All voters decided this in November. That’s not a misprint; I mean “all.” We hear endlessly about voter turnout. ALL voters “turn out.” As Eric Liu explained over a decade ago, some voters submit ballots and others don’t.  I call them active and passive voters, respectively.

Active voters submit ballots and know who received their vote. Passive voters always vote for the winning candidate in every race and learn who that is after the election.

In many states, including Arizona, a sizable group of voters (one-third of registered voters here) operates under restrictions imposed by the Democratic and Republican parties. We are commonly labeled independent Voters.

In  some ways, however, that label is totally inappropriate. The reality is that all Americans are interdependent. That’s what citizenry in a nation is. Even the most powerful among us benefit from the  work of multiple millions of other Americans and the social contract they have built. That is what membership in our society is. Independent voters, ironically, are more likely than partisan voters to embrace that interdependence.

How, then, do we proceed? My suggestion: set your own rules now to keep the people who mean the most to you free from fearing you will sever that special relationship because of different political views. They own their beliefs — and the consequences that flow from them. So do you. So do I.

My circle of family and friends includes a huge array of political views; yours may, as well. To my knowledge, mine includes no dedicated fascists or communists, but most increments in between are represented. I don’t know how most of them came to their beliefs, nor do they mine. That’s not what drives the circle.

So, I say to myself, myself:

• Preserve the circle. No political party, movement, organization, or self-proclaimed or elected leader,  owns that circle. It belongs to us, and my relationship to it is mine alone. Why would I let someone I don’t even know personally damage that?
• Actively listen. Try to understand, without leaping to conclusions. I may or may not understand how someone arrived at an opinion. I may grasp the path, but have no clue what that path feels like. I didn’t experience it. Nor did they, mine.
• Remain curious. Ask questions for clarification, not as torpedoes. How can I learn if I believe I already know it all? The effort to understand is a mark of respect, not an obligation to agree.
• Reflect on what I’ve learned. Mull it over. Then decide what to think and why. Why really matters.
• Given a choice between arrogance and humility, choose the latter. It can lead to wisdom rather than down a rabbit hole. 

I anticipate learning a lot. Then, doing something about it more wisely than I could have in December, 2024 Now, that’s a gift.

And the circle remains unbroken.

Al Bell is a co-founder of the Arizona Independent Voter’s Network, a 501(c)3(h) organization dedicated to sharing accurate information among the one-third of Arizona’s registered voters who choose not to be affiliated with a political party. He may be reached at albell@azindvoters.net.