A Republican Comment on a Democrat’s Blog

 

 

 

 

 

I have a friend from high school who doesn’t often agree with me. Our lives and outlooks are oh so different. He lives in a rural area, while I live in the city. He’s an outdoorsman. I don’t hunt. He’s a gun owner. I’m not. He’s conservative. Clearly, I’m liberal. We talk a lot about how we should find a means to compromise as a nation. After all, we’ve done so as two old friends. We vote differently yet respect each other. There’s been no unfriending or trolling through a few election cycles now. This takes tolerance and respect from both of us. A healthy dose of humor doesn’t hurt either. I asked my friend to write a bit about his perspective. I want us to demonstrate that we can indeed bridge the gap and focus on compromise rather than uniting the conservative or progressive movement. We care less about uniting our own parties than we do about uniting the nation. It says a lot that my friend, let’s call him Taylor, agreed to share his words here. Take a look and above all, be respectful.

 

“I know, I know, I know, many of you have already deleted, turned the system to a new page, or rolled your eyes. Me too. In fact, I can’t really believe I’m actually doing this. But, my feeling is due to a lack of confidence and experience in writing skills.  

I actually happen to agree, as do many of my Republican friends, on a number of issues which I read on this blog. Not all, but many. I have come to understand some of the opinions and certainly respect the author. Listening to others and not responding on emotion, but with thought can go a long way.

I was raised in a rural area where I was often frowned upon because it was assumed my family was wealthy. As soon as I transferred to a private school, it was assumed I was poor because I am from a rural area. Neither was in fact true. Yes, I did feel at the time that I experienced some form of discrimination in both places. Not to the extent of many others in our country, nor am I even going to begin to compare those situations. I couldn’t even find the words to talk about discrimination, nor would it be fair to others who know discrimination. I was actually wrong in my feelings growing up. And, those who treated me as such were wrong in their assumptions based on appearance. (By the way, not all did, and I am blessed to have close friends). I try not to discriminate but prefer to say that I actually have problems with people who are angry, paranoid, are criminal, or who have numerous other negative attitudes toward people and our society. That opinion does not see color, nationality, nor religion. It sees anger, and perceptions which are misconceived. Anger is fear, which is an emotion.  

The thought process brings about the idea which I really think is our largest problem in society today. The main word which comes to mind is a major part of leadership, and that word is Unity. We are all created equal but are also different. That is compounded by the fact that we are evolving as time goes on. Yes, I use the word “evolving” as in “evolution.”  I do believe in the Theory of Evolution. I also think that because a big bang occurred it was the same bang described in the Bible. I promise not to go off on a religious rant. I am a man of faith who believes in God and the power of studying words like peace, love, unity, leadership of Jesus, etc. However, evolution cannot be refuted and is a proven science. Sciences need to be recognized even when the truth is that no human can predict with 100% accuracy what will happen tomorrow. That does not mean we stop predicting, nor does it mean we don’t get close. It means we study more to get better, which is called education. We also shouldn’t criticize so much when that prediction is wrong because we just mentioned that no human can predict with 100% accuracy what will happen tomorrow. A perfect, 100.0000000000%  prediction of tomorrow is statistically improbable.

“A bad manager can take a good staff and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose all motivation.” (I’m not sure whom to give credit for this quote too. It came off the internet and everything on the internet is true). The point is, without unity, listening, willingness to open your mind, and leadership that wants to find common ground, we will continue to divide, leave others’ opinions out, or remain unmotivated. As long as we are complacent we are not uniting. Unity will destroy hate, discrimination, and open the door to finding common ground. Common, not independent ground. We will always be different but can be open.

I truly believe that the media feel their job is to attack and divide. This creates ratings and people watching TV. I also enjoy watching the Kardashians. LOL. The media creates anger and other feelings of anxiety. These emotions keep us coming back. Whether it is Fox, NBC, CBS, or other news outlets, they want us back. It is marketing, entertaining, emotional, and not unifying. When we react on emotion we cannot unite because we are not using our brain. They thrive on issues which will divide and avoid issues which will unite.

Gun discussions never talk about positive issues in the news or safety. I was taught to never point a gun at a person. That is safety. Would I defend my country, wife, children, family, and friends from a criminal with a gun? Absolutely…and, with anything else I could get my hands on to fight with. The media discuss mass shootings, anger, crime, and other issues that go to our emotions.  They never show when a gun saved a life or when a son got to spend time safely in nature with his father and didn’t shoot once. There is common ground which can be made on many issues when we unite. Guns do not belong in the hands of people who do not safely use them. This includes mentally ill, criminals, and people not properly trained in gun safety. Will we get it right 100% of the time? No, that has proven statistically impossible. Our laws should protect us from those people. A Virginia State Senator (Democrat) was shot and wounded by his own mentally ill son. The son then turned the gun on himself in front of his father. Republicans had been yelling for mental health discussions, while Democrats had been yelling for gun control. Both are right and need to meet but both are also scared. Emotions, not thought.

The law should also give us the right to own a gun when properly trained and not determined to be unsafe to society. That freedom is a Constitutional right. Organizations such as the NRA thrive on emotion and not unity which incites anger, fear, and an unwillingness to unite or to even begin to find common ground. I don’t know about you, but when someone is doing something I think is wrong I just avoid them. I don’t allow them to anger me.

I could go on and on about division, but without leadership who is willing to sit down, negotiate differences, and meet on common ground, we will continue to go the way of the earlier referenced business quote. Every good leader I have ever admired stepped in during times of trouble and successfully and peacefully united. Washington, Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, JFK, Reagan, Clinton (Bill, not Hillary), and I could go on. This is not unique to any one party, and either party is capable of doing it with good leadership.  

The State of Virginia just witnessed this recently with gun control legislation proposed by a Republican State Senator who was working with an overreaching Democratic Governor. The two met and came to common ground. The Senator wished to stop the overreach and the Governor was willing to stop with reasonable proposals. We can all learn from these examples but won’t hear about it in the news because it is positive and not angry. Let’s work to find common ground. Hopefully this is a generational issue which will evolve over time to something positive. I pray that this is the case.”