Here There and Everywhere

Danced All Weekend

I have a conservative friend I see three times a week, and we delicately discuss politics. It’s been an intricate dance, as we feel strongly about our issues, and we also want to remain civil, to remain friends.

A very old friend rebukes me. “How can you even talk with these uncaring haters?” she asks me.

We’ve been friends for a long time.

“How can I not?” I answer her. “How can we win and move forward if we continue to alienate one another? I know how it feels to be on the outside, and to feel powerless, and aghast at what is happening. How can we bring our opponents into the conversation, so that we might find a way – maybe not a perfect way, but a way forward, where we can both give a little and find a way to make it work?”

So when I saw my conservative friend this morning, he gave me a smile. “How was your weekend?” he asked, dancing around the elephant in the room, the Biden – Harris win.

“Oh, I am SO tired!” I told him, and then grinned, “All that dancing for joy the whole weekend, I am exhausted!”

He had the grace to laugh.

November 9, 2020 - Posted by intlxpatr | Civility, Cultural, Friends & Friendship, Interconnected, Living Conditions, Pensacola, Political Issues, Values