I'm not a socialist, for the record. And, I'm not a hippie either. I've never smoked weed in my life, which, believe me, is an accomplishment considering where I go to school. I probably wouldn't even be able to tell you what it smells like...which again, is an accomplishment. As for the private detective thing, well, I work on that pretty frequently. But that's another story for another time.
I digress. A better name for this post might be "I'm tired," but I think those two words are going to appear plenty of times in this post.
It's Memorial Day, and my thoughts turn to America. And from there, to politics. I truly appreciate America. It's a gorgeous country. We have so many different kinds of climates and breathtaking landscapes, all in one place. What really makes me feel disillusioned, though, is politics.
This is where the liturgical list starts.
I'm tired of the mud-slinging and the back-biting and the name-calling in politics. I'm tired of people flinging words around like "ignorant," "socialism," "communism," "uninformed," "whore." I'm tired of people (including and not limited to myself) losing their cool and, instead of being courteous and logical and cultivated human beings, losing it entirely and flinging out the name-calling. I'm tired of being made to feel like a bad US citizen just because I don't HATE Obama. I am not always impressed by his politics, but some of them, yes, I like. I don't LOVE the man. I just don't HATE him, and the thing that really bothers me is that people seem to forget entirely that he IS the president, and as such, does deserve a level of respect that he just doesn't get.
I'm tired of the disappearance of tolerance and courtesy. Everyone, including myself, is entitled to an opinion. But there is no reason that anyone, including me, has to be rude about their opinions. It's much harder to have a logical discussion than it is to start yelling and calling people bigoted, communists, or any of the terms that people like to fling around. But the logical discussion will get you a lot further than the screaming fits, and if you know what you're talking about, the logical discussions will be easier to win, and even if you don't win, then at least you'll have the opportunity to learn something from someone with other opinions.
I'm tired of people not listening to each other, and just talking over and at each other. I'm tired of people never taking into consideration other people's feelings. Just because someone has a different set of opinions than you doesn't mean they're a bad person or that you need to be rude to them. Try not to shoot them down; if they're being civil, try listening to them, even if you know you're going to disagree. And then answer civilly.
A Democracy is only as successful as long as its citizens are informed. So be informed. I don't care who you are, Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, or the Green party. There are offenders on every front where this rule is concerned.
Try something for me. Try walking in someone else's shoes before you judge them. Honestly, try it. That is my goal, because in the last few days I've been struggling with not judging people and getting into fights that are unnecessary. It has never been my place to judge anyone, and I don't know the circumstances that have shaped their beliefs, just as they don't know the circumstances that have shaped mine. I don't deserve to be called uninformed or a terrible citizen of the US based on my personal beliefs. I love this country. And, if anything, being married to a conservative has taught me that sometimes I am just as bad at listening to people as the people that drive me up the wall are.
One of the reasons that Tanner and I, as more-or-less opposites on the political spectrum of moderate, make it work is that we're learning to tolerate and listen. We've had some pretty nasty screaming fights about politics in the past, and I'm sure we'll be set for a few more in the future. But we know how to laugh about it now:
As a joke, because I'm sorta liberal, I told him I would put copies of the Communist Manifesto on the tables at our reception. To which he retorted that he would go around and place a lighter next to every book.
You gotta love a man who keeps up with you like that. Even if you'd rather die than burn any book. Even the Manifesto.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that politics does not have to be a dealbreaker between people. Learn how to listen, respect, tolerate, and love, and maybe, just maybe, we'll get some politicians in office that actually stand for what we as a people feel.
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