WHERE DID THE MIDDLE GO?

I once had a real hot headed fight with a business colleague in front of many people.

Not the smartest thing to do.

And we were arguing about "the middle".  And what it was and why it was needed.  

It was irritatingly esoteric to everyone but the two of us.

The meeting leader called a break and everyone left us to figure it out.

We had been in the middle (not meant to be ironic, I swear) of working on a "vision" for a crucial work project and it kept degenerating into tiny execution details.  We were either in the clouds or in the forest of tasks to be done.  I was arguing for a middle ground between vision and minute detail.

Well I still am.  Arguing for the middle that is.

We as a planet are screaming with the need for more "middle"

But what we have is:

Upper class or middle class

God raving or God forsaking

Blindly committed red or blue voters 

Cynical with dark despair or pumped up hyper optimism

Over paid executives or poverty paid entry level workers

Blind faith or blind atheist

Hawks or doves

Global warning or environmental scoff laws
Religion or science

I want more middle ground, more moderate discourse, less drama.

It is the middle path that leads to sanity, to the greatest good for the greatest number.

It is so tempting to match extreme for extreme.

According to the Buddha, the Middle Way is a life lived between the extremes of self-denial and self-indulgence.   Doesn't that sound good?  How do we (you and I) begin walking the middle path as a way of growing common ground step by step by excruciating step?