Labels and Sides

The Fourth of July is about as important to my mother's side of the family as Christmas is--in fact, there are some family members that can make it to the Fourth that can't make it to Christmas.  For me, it's what we've always done for the Fourth:  go to Hopedale, spend time with family, eat too much good food, go down to the park to ride some rides, see the parade, and have a chance to catch up.  It doesn't have the presents, but it also doesn't have the stress of needing to be six other places.  

Now this year, Andy, David, and I all opted to show our holiday spirit by wearing our Bernie shirts to the parade, and, well, you see our uncle's reaction.  

We just want to give you free healthcare, Uncle Rick!

We've known for a long time that we have some different political opinions than our uncle, but that's really okay.  In separate pieces, we all had discussions with him, coming at the same serious of problems with different solutions.  We could recognize that we had our own biases.  We found that we were angry about a lot of the same things.

What I really appreciated was the reminder that everyone has reasons for thinking the way they do--not excuses, but reasons.  And there are places where we still had a lot of important common ground.  But most importantly, I had a person in front of me, not a caricature.  This was a person that I trusted and respected that had these ideas, not just some faceless "other."  

Both sides seem to forget that the person who thinks with a different opinion isn't automatically stupid or naive.  They are a person with history and reasons.  There is a person on the other side of the internet that can be hurt by your words.  There is a person on the other end of the internet that can be persuaded, perhaps much more so if we try to phrase an actual argument instead of blanket insults.  Additionally, there are people on the other side of the internet that might be hell bent on not being persuaded, and that is a reality, too.  

In short, we need to all come to the table with an open and empathetic mind, and we need to not get suckered into this idea that there are only ever two options; the world is full of grey instead of a projected false duality.