Tribute to Len Traubman

In November 2016, I wrote a column on the need to follow the biblical instruction to “love our enemies” and to not judge one another during what many would call the most divisive presidential election in recent memory. After receiving a host of responses criticizing my beliefs expressed in the column, I received an email the length of a short essay from Libby and Len Traubman expressing their appreciation for it. This led to a dinner invitation in which they encouraged me to continue writing from my heart and not my head. They encouraged me to speak truth, share my values, to build up and love others through my column.

I also learned that the Traubmans led a peace movement that spans beyond our county and reaches even the Middle East and Africa. Their focus has been on empowering communities to share stories with one another and genuinely listen. Of the many things we take for granted and underestimate, the power in our capacity to listen to another without judgment or reservation is among the greatest. History tells us that there are grave consequences for refusing to listen to one another — the most evident being human indifference on a global scale.

Time and again, humanity has failed to truly grasp the power in valuing another’s voice, cry and story. Consider the countless wars that were fought merely because human beings could not reconcile listening to the concerns of their counterparts or constituents. The French Revolution was born out of a constituency that felt voiceless to the ear of its leader, King Louis XVI. After ignoring the cries of rising inflation, pervasive disease and inescapable poverty, King Louis XVI and his regime were violently overthrown by their unheard constituents in the single bloodiest revolution in history, amounting in the death of more than 40,000 people.

The Traubmans have built their life’s work around creating dialogues to break ancient divisions between cultures and communities that are seemingly impossible to sever. Two years ago, I had the wondrous opportunity of joining more than 100 people at San Mateo’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center for the Traubmans’ most recent community dialogue — “Crossing Lines.” The title exemplifies the objective of the dialogue — crossing the divisive lines of age, culture, socioeconomic status, religion, anger, bitterness and pain within our community.

Each of us were assigned the task of engaging an individual that we did not know for 30 minutes. The listeners were not allowed to ask many questions — giving the speakers space to freely express their story and experiences without interruption. Ultimately, I was astonished at what little I knew about the people around me — their trials, tribulations, victories and defeats.

Beyond this awesome event, the Traubmans have been incredible mentors and friends to my wife and me for the past four years. As such, it was with great sadness and humility when I learned that Len Traubman passed away Oct. 4, 2019. After grieving for his passing and the family’s loss, I am reminded of the joy and peace he brought to people throughout the world and to me personally.

Len believed that listening is our single most powerful tool to enable others to express empathy, compassion, and love. Listening is key to one of the single greatest virtues of the human spirit — empathy. It is the idea that, on some level, we can consciously discern another’s state of being through solicitude — the compassionate concern for others.

Len taught me that no matter how vast our differences, the more we take the initiative to listen to others, the more we realize that in large part, we are all the same. To embrace our similarities over our differences, we must be willing to go beyond our comfort zones and cross the lines that divide us. This requires a belief that, together, vastly different individuals can unite here in San Mateo County, our nation, and the world.

A native of Pacifica, Jonathan Madison worked as professional policy staff for the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, from 2011-2013. Jonathan is an attorney and can be reached via email at jonathanemadison@gmail.com.