As a wise friend of mine once put it, “Nothing will ever be accomplished in this country because conservatives refuse to hear the problems liberals present and liberals refuse to hear conservative solutions.”

Indeed, liberals tend to complain conservative ideas help the rich, while ignoring the needs of the poor and disadvantaged. Conservatives, for their part, may have a tendency to be dismissive of the legitimate problems and challenges to which liberals try to call attention. Likewise, conservative ideas often encourage self-reliance and independence from government aid, concepts that some liberals dismiss as luxuries available only to the rich and privileged.

How can effective politics emerge from such a bitter dichotomy, marked by such resentment and suspicion on both sides?

The answer is as trite as it is true: There are two sides to every story. Most every issue has legitimate arguments for and against it, and the gravest threat to open discussion is to let any issue or ideology be portrayed as black-and-white.

Several decades ago, hearing both sides of the story meant illuminating the plight of the poor, which was long overdue. Indeed, after centuries — nay, millennia — of oppression by the powerful rich, the poor and disadvantaged certainly deserved a taste of equal time.

In my own admittedly narrow experience, it seems the rich have experienced a backlash since then. “Rich” is almost a derogatory epithet. This is especially unfortunate in America, where yesterday’s poor and oppressed have the opportunity to become today’s rich and powerful. Resentment toward the “rich” may be understandable, but equally so is the further alienation and resentment that it breeds among the populace.

Growing up as a “rich kid,” I developed what I thought was an appropriate shame at the size of my house and other amenities. Kids at school had working parents who struggled to make ends meet, while I had a mom at home and plenty of everything to go around. It was alarming and saddening for me to look objectively at my childhood and realize people may have hated me for being well off.

Then, early this semester, I had a revelation as I reflected on the ingrained class warfare in America. I thought of my great-grandfather, who immigrated to America alone at age 16, and whose family may not have made it after his untimely death had it not been for the government assistance programs that accompanied the Great Depression. I thought of another great-grandmother, whose husband left to settle in America. She followed him a year later, accompanied by her elderly mother and two small children, navigating from eastern Europe to New York to Galveston, Texas, to the farmland north of Houston without speaking a word of English.

I thought of my other forebears who worked so hard to surmount considerable challenges. I thought of that the cliche-but-true reason why they did what they did: “to provide a better life for our children.”

And here I was, “ashamed” of the better life they had built for me.

The last thing I’m looking for is some kind of ridiculous, poor-little-rich-kid sympathy.

I want to emphasize the importance of hearing other perspectives. Considering all ideas is critical to ameliorating this country’s sharp divisions.

The current political climate in this country is indeed polarized between two opposites. One is not inherently correct, nor the other automatically wrong. One is not necessarily embraced by the enlightened, nor the other followed only by the brainwashed. The two sides simply arise from different people with different perspectives, experiences and ideas about how government most effectively serves its people.

Yes, this may be a rather rosy assessment, but Mark Twain said to “always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest.” The best attitude to bring to political debate can be drawn from the same vein: always assume the best of members of the other side, giving them the benefit of the doubt as to their intelligence, honesty and motivation. This will either please or shock them into more respect for you and your opinion.

In many ways, the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday is a much more appropriate occasion for making resolutions than is New Year’s: It’s a time for reflecting on all the good fortunes that have made us who we are, not the least of which are the freedoms and opportunities this country offers. This reflection sets the stage for resolving to not let these advantages go to waste.

I, for one, will be thankful for the people who allowed me to grow up as a “rich kid,” and I hope that I can make the most of the life they worked so hard to give me.