I think we've all had he experience of someone's attitude affecting others. A joyous atmosphere made suddenly "dark" when an angry person enters a room, or the feeling of peacefulness overcoming us when in the presence of a calm person. It may be that we humans, or even all sentient beings, are connected in some intuitive (subliminal?) way. I'm not trying to make some metaphysical claim about this; I merely want to point out something we've all probably experienced at some point in our lives.
If we are all interconnected at some level of consciousness or awareness, perhaps what is needed in the world--not just "out there" but in our body, family, workplace, etc.--is a calm and peaceful presence. Maybe our call is not to assert some view or opinion, or argue with someone harboring a different political perspective from our own. Maybe we are called to gently affect others (by first affecting ourselves) through the formation of a peaceful and loving disposition. If we think about it, one more angry voice added to the chorus of disenchanted, angry voices, won't change a thing. Perhaps we need to "model" what we know is necessary in the world today: compassion for ourselves and others. Here's a short contemplation on loving kindness I use on occasion (a version of a chant I read in one of Ayya Khema's books, When the Iron Eagle Flies):
(To be repeated gently to one's self in a state of meditative calm)
May I be free from enmity
May I be free from hurtfulness
May I be free from the afflictions of mind and body
May I be happy, healthy and at peace
May all beings be free from enmity
May all beings be free from hurtfulness
May all beings be free from the afflictions of mind and body
May all beings be happy, healthy and at peace
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