A political post that I hope will HELP

I want to start this with the question below. It’s something that occurred to me while I was in the shower (it’s amazing how many great ideas and stuff I have while I wash my hair- hehe). Like 99.9% of people, I’ve been very disheartened by what I’m seeing on social media.  I totally respect other people’s opinions, even when they differ from my own. What I often don’t respect is the WAY they express those opinions, when they’re voiced with hate and bullying and degradation.  Dude, whatever side of the fence you’re on, that’s not cool.  Anyway, here’s the question:

If you were to get in a car accident, fall and break a leg, run out of money for food, have an emergency of any kind, and a total stranger showed up at your side/at your door and offered you help, would you ask that person whether they’re a republican or a democrat?  Would it matter to you right then how they voted?  

Likely not.  Why?  Because there are good and kind and wonderful people everywhere, and one just showed up to help you. They’re all around, good people. They’re black, white, gay, straight, Christian, agnostic. You don’t have to agree with them to make them good. That’s just who they are, but somehow we forget that during election time (especially this go round).  Not all democrats are bad. Not all republicans are bad.  There are some who are, yes. Unfortunately, the world has a few nasty people here and there, devils even.  They’re in your groups and coffeehouses, in your hospitals and workplaces, in your schools and churches.  But those places are also filled with a lot of spectacular people, some liberal, some conservative.

We should all bleed red, white and blue, not only red or only blue.  There are good points to both sides, and many voted the way they did (either R or D) for one or two very specific reasons, not because many (or any) of us agree with every single idea (or personal characteristic or choice) of the candidate.  The thing is, a new president was just elected, but it doesn’t end here. It’s the nature of the human condition to mess up, to never be completely satisfied. That’s why we seesaw back and forth between a democratic leader and a republican one. I daresay that the vast majority of voters voted the way they did because they wanted change of one sort or another. That will be the case again in 2020. It will always be the case.  That’s why we can NEVER let a president or any one person define us as individuals.  Being a decent nation starts at home. Being a decent person starts at home.  It starts with an act of kindness to the child in your kid’s class who doesn’t have lunch money or the old woman down the street who can’t get her wheelchair up onto the sidewalk, or the friend who needs a loan or a prayer or a helping hand.  Being a decent nation is an EVERY DAY effort that doesn’t change no matter who is in office.  WE make up a great nation.  WE, the people.  Our lives will go on, regardless of the leadership.  I can personally attest to that. I’ve been alive for several democratic presidents and several republican ones, and I can tell you that my life has gone on after every single election night.   We can’t get bogged down in the hate.  We have to reach for the ideal, strive for the better place that we all want to see and live in and be buried in.

I say this because I, too, have struggled with this election, reading the hate-filled posts of people that I like and respect, and fighting to hold onto that respect after I read them.  If we were all as empathetic as we truly should be, there would be no need for laws or government.  We would all so respect and care for one another that there would be no need to provide for the poor. We would all pitch in and do it.  There would be no need for punishment of theft or murder or hate crimes.  None of us would dare hurt another person in that way. But y’all, we aren’t there yet.  I doubt we will ever be.  A place like that doesn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do our dead level best every single day to be that kind, generous, thoughtful person to those around us.  Change starts at home, one person, one ACT at a time.  Maybe today is the day we can all reboot and start again.  Start being kind to those on the other side of the fence instead of bashing or shaming them, start loving people FOR REAL rather than just screaming tolerance and then showing none.  

I’m not going on social media for a while.  I don’t want to see the damage we are doing to one another. I do not invite hateful responses to this post either. I’m just trying to help.  This is just my way of setting MY OWN MIND straight and maybe maybe maybe helping someone else (who is tired of all this ickiness) to find a better way to look at it.  We are all still in this race (the human race) together. Don’t tear down the very people who could be your lifeline tomorrow. If you must look away for a while, then do it.  Find your happy place and abide there until the dust settles. Just don’t feed into the hate. That is never the answer.

This is all I have to say on this subject, for what it’s worth.  I am very anxious to go forward in a positive way, and I think a lot of others are, too. Hopefully we can, starting today.

Love and peace and hope to you all!

M out.