“Nailing My Feet to the Floor”
How do you get people to follow you even though they disagree with you? One thought is about trust. Folks used to say I was shy but honest. I got a lot of respect for that—and it may have helped them trust me.
A dear male relative was a long way from me [had very different views] on almost everything. He would throw “out there” [extreme] propositions and ideas at me that were sometimes hard to listen to. I had to “nail my feet to the floor” [stay and keep listening].
I would listen until he got his view forward and then say, “I hear what you are saying, but what about this? It’s a fair point, too.” He would go on again, and we would go back and forth. Sometimes it was heated and loud and I couldn’t think, but I just hung in there [persisted] and kept asking questions in a respectful way. Toward the end when I almost felt defeated, he would say, “You know, I could learn something from you about listening to people.” I continue to find this encouraging.
He has been a production worker all his life.
Australia
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of working-class people
(Present Time 207, April 2022)