Lucero: Conversation key to solving problems

I often find myself thinking for long periods of time about how I can possibly make a positive change in the world around me.

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These thoughts keep me up at night, trying to wrap my head around problems that face our quickly changing world.

Being a journalist, I read the news daily and I am always interested in how news stories are able to influence change and start conversations that would have otherwise not have been brought up.

Some of the problems I see around me seem so complex and daunting that I can’t even figure out where someone would start, but that doesn’t stop me from attempting to think of a feasible solution and looking into points of view that oppose my own.

The hardest part of thinking about these problems is that I feel alone in my thinking.

Bringing up the problems I perceive only brings out a handful of people willing to have a conversation and the rest only want to see who can type the loudest.

When trying to have a conversation about current events in-person with my peers I quickly run into looks of boredom and discomfort.

It seems as though everyone has something to say about today’s problems, but when you want to start a conversation about how to address them, no one has the time or the patience to discuss it.

I have lucked out by having very open-minded and understanding parents who are always open to a good debate, but venturing into that same territory with friends brings on an immediate subject change.

The majority of friends that I talk to are not concerned with having conversations about anything outside of their immediate interests and that concerns and baffles me.

Communication, I believe, is the key to solving today’s problems and people seem to be increasingly good at avoiding the important conversations that need to be had.

Without these conversations, creating solutions will remain a complex and daunting proposition because those who want to tackle the problems we face have nowhere to turn for feedback and logically argued alternative view points.

If people want to make legitimate change happen they are going to have to be open to having uncomfortable conversations with people that don’t agree with them.

Once those conversations can be had and people can start to understand points of view that differ from their own, maybe we can begin to work together to tackle the problems we face today.

Joshua Lucero is a reporter for the Portales News-Tribune. Contact him at:

[email protected]