To say the words “I agree” — whether it’s agreeing to join an organization, or submit to political authority, or subscribe to a religious faith — may be the basis of every community.

But to say, I disagree; I refuse; you’re wrong — these are the words that define our individuality, give us our freedom, enjoin our tolerance, enlarge our perspectives, seize our attention, energize our progress, make our democracies real, and give hope and courage to oppressed people everywhere.

Galileo and Darwin; Mandela, Havel, and Liu Xiaobo; Rosa Parks and Natan Sharansky — such are the ranks of those who disagree.

And the problem, as I see it, is that we’re failing at the task.

This is a puzzle. At least as far as far as the United States is concerned, Americans have rarely disagreed more in recent decades.

We disagree about racial issues, bathroom policies, health care laws, and, of course, the 45th President. We express our disagreements in radio and cable TV rants; street and campus protests that are increasingly violent; and personal conversations that are increasingly embittering.

To disagree well you must first understand well. You have to read deeply, listen carefully, watch closely.  And you need to allow for the possibility that you might yet be persuaded.

Your Assignment

You are going to create a Storyboard at storyboardthat.com entitled

Sometimes it is okay to disagree

You will  have six tiles total

Tile One  The title  Sometimes it is okay to disagree

Tile Two  Martin Luther King Jr

Tile Three  Rosa Parks

Tile Four  Nelson Mandela

Tile Five  Galileo,

Tile Six Malala Yousafzai  

OR YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR OWN PEOPLE!

For each tile, have the character with a textable bubble saying what it was they disagreed with that made them famous.