I have read To Kill A Mockingbird more times than I can remember. It is my favorite book on Earth. When I was younger I related to the character of Scout on a very personal level, and now that I am getting older, I have made it an ambition to always keep in mind the central theme in the book, set forth by Atticus that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Living from that point of view, I have been really blessed to have friends from all walks of life. We all have differences from political / religious / background standpoints. But we have something important in common too. We respect each other.
During this past election process I found myself feeling (as I have in increasing amounts every time there is an election) very sad. I don’t like the politics of using our differences to divide us. To make us choose one way “or else.” I don’t enjoy watching the American people choose sides, because to me there are no sides. Is there an issue out there that is truly black and white?
I think that our differences (and the fact that we are free to have them and discuss them) are what make us great. And when we use those differences as an excuse to disqualify each other as people or to undermine each other…well I believe everyone loses.
I read a great quote the other day… “The one mistake that we continue to make is that we label people. We say you’re conservatives, liberal, progressive, right wing, left wing. I think people just want to spend one day being Americans. They want to come together around a common purpose, common values.” I really do think that’s true.
So I am challenging myself and hope you will too…when we disagree with someone, be it politically or religiously or even morally, let’s stop and ask ourselves… is it better that we argue this, or better that we listen and discuss? This is another human being… worried about their future, their childrens’ futures, the state of the world and who am I to tell them that what they worry about is mundane or wrong? Who am I to say that what they believe makes them a bad person? What could we both learn here? How can I climb into their skin and walk around in it?
I bet you would be shocked at how quickly the refusal to get angry and the mission to stand-up firmly but respectfully for your own beliefs would change they way the other person sees you, how you see them and maybe eventually how the two of you see the world around you. And little by little, as we all start to see things from multiple points of view, maybe this line that keeps getting drawn in the sand could slowly be erased.
I think I’d like to see my daughter grow up in that kind of world. Now, where’s my peace pipe?