Love it, hate it, or mis­un­der­stand it, health­care reform is a mas­sive and impor­tant step in our society.

But I believe that equally impor­tant as the reform to an indus­try with such flaws is the edu­ca­tion one seeks regard­ing said industry.

Note the care­ful posi­tion­ing of the word “seeks,” mean­ing one must get off his or her tuckus and look up infor­ma­tion, unless abridged, watered-down, cliff noted, gen­er­al­ized ver­sions are the more pre­ferred style. (It shouldn’t be.)

Like research for a term paper or good natured Facebook creep­ing, mul­ti­ple sources are nec­es­sary. Places like CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NPR and even news­pa­pers can be a great help in edu­cat­ing and learn­ing about this com­plex issue. But the most dif­fi­cult part is assem­bling a vari­ety of infor­ma­tion and then absorb­ing that infor­ma­tion and retain­ing it.

Already know how you feel about health­care reform? Then tell some­one why you feel that way, prefer­ably some­one who is will­ing to lis­ten. But, be able to do it calmly and log­i­cally and with­out pin­ning it on the pres­i­dent or the speaker of the house per­son­ally. If they aren’t some­one you know per­son­ally, attack­ing them doesn’t add cred­i­bil­ity, but elim­i­nates it. You may not like what they stand for, but politi­cians have tried to do sim­i­lar things in the past and you don’t seem to mind them as much. Yes, we’re look­ing at you, Mr. Roosevelt.

Perhaps most impor­tant is the con­stant need to ask your­self “why?” It’s not just about learn­ing, but ques­tion­ing what you’re learn­ing. There may not always be an answer, but if there is a ques­tion and a con­ver­sa­tion seek­ing that answer, it’s still okay. When the con­ver­sa­tion is done, it’s done.

The goal isn’t always to con­vince the world that you are cor­rect, or even cor­rect to one per­son. Just know­ing your own views, shar­ing and receiv­ing those of oth­ers is the best way to approach a healthy dia­logue on health­care. n