I often hold back things like what I’m about to say.
I trust that everyone will be able to read past the first few sentences and let go of their gut reactions.
There are a lot of things to shout about, and everyone’s shouting about them. These issues are all real, and relevant: government surveillance, global warming, the economy, gender equality, racial equality, government accountability, immigration and deportation, and war.
Everyone is given some kind of gift, and mine happened to be the incredibly diverse amount of people I’ve come into contact with: mentoring high schoolers, teaching in Kenya, learning English in China, visiting Portugal and England, working in restaurants, film, office jobs, getting the chance to talk to high powered individuals, having international friends, having a stepfather who immigrated to this country from Malaysia, wonderful family from Iowa, family from the Pennsylvania countryside, family from New England, and having visited almost every corner of this country myself.
No matter who they are, or where they come from, people are afraid of ideologies that they cannot understand, or see as dangerous. People are often concerned about a very similar set of values: safety and freedom, money, and morality.
Our country is so large, that culturally it is closer to four or five different countries. However, it’s really hard to get that perspective, unless you spend a lot of time travelling around the country. Hence, I expect few people to understand the strange combination of extreme diversity and extreme similarity that this country contains. I have found that sometimes, the most radical differences in ideology can be contained within a single community, and the places we view as alien, different, or backwards, can be more similar than we think.
War is a last resort when communication breaks down, when people feel like they can no longer listen to each other, when they feel powerless or scared.
The deepest, deepest sadness I have is that the countless times I have watched people talk about politics, there is always a point in the conversation where people start repeating facts that they’ve heard or read in the media somewhere. That is the point where people become divisive, argumentative, and start to hate each other.
People often view what they see on TV as reality, rarely investigate any claims in depth, and use them as hard-lined truths. This is true in every area of the political spectrum. This lack of mutability, this feeling of righteousness, this sudden inability to see someone across the table from you as your fellow man, is what creates a divide.
Some of the greatest lessons I have learned have been from people I considered to be enemies.
One of my secret joys in life, is when I’ve prematurely judged someone, and then spend enough time with them to learn that they are much different and more impressive than I initially thought.
The greatest strength our country has is in unity, which comes from understanding other people on a fundamentally human level.
You will walk down the street today and meet someone with a radically different ideology, as you would on any other day. Before you start to speak, think about why you are about to say what you want to say. Do you want to express anger? Fight? Win?
I would rather create deep and binding connections within my community, no matter how imperfect. No matter what I think politically, I want a stronger community, and that means understanding it first. That is true strength.
This day is not about hating a political candidate, this day is about a living in a country full of people you don’t agree with, and that day is every day.
The next time you meet someone, listen to them.
