It's September of an election year and for several months now we have been caught up in the media circus of presidential hopefuls. My facebook feed, my news sources, my radio are drowning in political ads and commentary and a firestorm from all sides. Obviously this coverage is not bothersome when it supports my own political leanings, but it is outright maddening seeing some of these headlines and claims from the opposition. I frankly can not fathom how people can support Donald Trump (stick with me), and how Trump even won the Republican ticket with all of his demeaning, egotistic, prejudice rhetoric. A man famous for inheriting wealth and privilege, for a beauty pageant, for a reality show. I can't help but associate him with the likes of the Kardashians - famous for being famous. But here's the thing--I understand there ARE plenty who support him and plenty who can not fathom how I could support Hillary Clinton. The problem lately is that instead of accepting and respecting opposing politics, we are attacking the person. We are angry and frustrated and acting like jerks.
Anyone who has ever tried meditating knows we can never stop our mind from thinking. What do you do when a thought arises? You label it as a thought and let it go. I wonder, can we learn to use this method in our debate over politics? Can we learn to separate the human being from their political thoughts by realizing their ideas are just that, and not a measure of their worth or likability? Can we learn to not shake our heads in disgust when we see a vehicle displaying bumper stickers for a politician we don't support? Can we stop using the First Amendment as an excuse for vitriol speech meant to attack those who disagree? We send our kids to schools and tell them to get along, to be kind and respectful to all, to learn to work as a team. Yet we allow our Congress and Senate to thwart compromise, to be stalwarts against working with those who disagree.
My son Fisher and I started reading a book together this week -- Paulo Coehlo's The Alchemist. I was struck right away by the prologue, which tells "the legend of Narcissus, a youth who knelt daily beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty." So fascinated with himself, one day he fell into the lake and drowned. The lake transformed from being fresh water to a lake of salty tears. The goddesses of the forest asked the lake why it wept, to which the lake replied it wept for Narcissus, though not because the lake had seen his beauty, but because "each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected." We are a big, diverse, multi-faceted country, yet somewhere along the way we have become like Narcissus and that salty lake--unwilling to get over ourselves and accept and understand others. For our kids' sake, I hope our political side will one day reflect the values we try to instill in them, instead of this "he said, she said" cycle where no one wants to work together and nothing really gets done. I challenge you to extend some kindness to those with an opposing view. Give a thumbs up to that lady with a Trump t-shirt, or that guy with a Clinton tattoo. Lets be well. We can do better, I really believe that.
