I HAVE A REQUEST for 16 Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump supporters. I need you to join the first installment of a new discussion series, which we are calling "Listen, Philly."
Before I tell you about it, I need you to pretend it's Nov. 9, the day after the presidential election, and your candidate has lost.
You're heartsick, disgusted. You can't look in the eye those who support the winner and are celebrating his or her victory.
"That person will never be my president," you seethe, mentally packing a bag for some mountain cabin but knowing that you're all talk. This is your country, too, dammit, and you're staying.
Now, pretend your candidate won. You're weak with relief and, if you're honest, hoping the fools who voted for the loser will move overseas and you can have the country to yourselves again.
Except you know they're not going. Because you wouldn't either.
So we're stuck with each other, just as we've been after other elections. The difference is that this brutal, demoralizing and bizarre clown show of a presidential election season has been like none other in terms of its venom, disrespect and divisiveness.
For 240 years, America has had a smooth transfer of power after its presidential elections. It's been the hallmark of our democracy, our example to the world that we're a land of laws, that our votes count and that we live with our election decisions.
But that doesn't seem assured this time around. It's terrifying.
On Sunday, the Republican headquarters in Hillsborough, N.C., was firebombed - firebombed, people - and someone spray painted "Nazi Republicans leave town or else" on a nearby wall. What will "else" entail if Trump wins?
Last week, a Trump supporter told the Boston Globe that if Clinton is elected, "I hope we can start a coup. She should be in prison or shot ... We're going to have a revolution and take them out of office if that's what it takes. There's going to be a lot of bloodshed. But that's what it's going to take ... I would do whatever I can for my country."
This cannot be who we are.
Supporters of both candidates are so much better than the hatred and vitriol being spewed by us on their worst days.
How the hell are we going to live together despite who's in the White House?
This, readers, is where "Listen, Philly" comes in. This series of discussions will consist of people on both sides of a seemingly intractable issue sitting down and listening to each other in ways that get beyond the hurt and anger and into healing and hope.
Without the latter, we're going to become the United States of Implosion.
The series kicks off on Nov. 1, one week before the election of America's 45th president.
I would like to invite eight Clinton voters and eight Trump voters to join me that evening to talk about what the new president will have to do to reunite a country fractured by fear, rage, disillusionment and contempt.
You'll be asked to speak from the heart about your hopes and dreams for yourself, your loved ones, your community and the country. And you'll be expected to then listen - with compassion, with curiosity and without judgment - as others share their own dreams. You can be passionate, but you must be considerate and courteous in your language and behavior.
The goal is to dial the derision and distrust back to zero so that we can hear what we have in common, which is always, always a lot more than what we don't.
We forget that fact way too often. I know I sure do.
We will be joined by Sharon Browning, founder of JUSTlistening.net, a Philly-based consulting practice that helps folks improve their communications skills in ways that let people with disagreements feel heard and then create new ways of getting along.
Sharon is smart, warm and kind. She's the perfect sherpa to get us through the evening feeling better about each other than when we started.
Our lofty goal? To take new insights and empathy back to our politically fractured lives so that we heal some of the wounds this painful election season has inflicted on us all. I'll follow up our get-together with a column about what we learned so we can spread the hope beyond our circle. (A photographer will be shooting video and pictures, so be prepared to see yourself in the pages of this newspaper and online.)
Interested? Send me an email at polaner@phillynews.com, and tell me why you want to participate. Please tell me, too, your age, gender, race and candidate so our group has a lot of viewpoints. The unbreakable ground rules are: Civility, respect and no weapons of any kind (whether you have a carry permit or not).
Again, the date is Tuesday, Nov. 1, at Philadelphia Media Network (801 Market St.) from 6 to 9 p.m. (Yes, food will be served.)
I don't know what the response to this request will be, so please be patient as we sort through your responses. We'll get back to everyone as soon as possible.
Let's do this. And thanks for listening, Philly.
215-854-2217 @RonniePhilly
Blog: ph.ly/RonnieBlog
Columns: ph.ly/Ronnie