Research gives us both permission and an obligation to question our own mental model of the people we think we oppose. Not because our convictions are wrong. But because the person sitting across from us almost certainly isn’t the villain we’ve been rehearsing arguments against. And because our students are watching every move we make. The joy is in the journey. Not the one toward agreement, but toward actually seeing the person in front of you. That’s where connection lives. And it’s where transformational learning begins.