Unity

If I tried to tell you that I’m not political, that would be a lie. I’m very passionate and argumentative. Over time, I have found boundaries within that.

America is in trying times right now. It’s like after 200 years as a nation, we’ve hit our teenage years. Arguing, back talking, eye rolling and sarcasm seem to be the most used forms of communication. It would be easy for anyone to write about their views on politics right now because everyone has an opinion and if you don’t, you should. But that’s not what this is about. This is about unity.

Do you remember being a kid and hearing your parents argue? I know this looked different for every family, but for the most part, arguing can be a healthy discussion when we get to the bones of it. As children, we don’t understand that arguments and misunderstandings can lead to growth. But, that has to be the goal. The goal has to be to better understand each other so we can prevent this same argument from happening again in the future.

When my parents would argue, one of them would typically leave. As an already-anxious child, this was terrifying to me. I didn’t understand that walking away is a very healthy coping skill. One of my parents (typically my mom) always took the initiative to walk away. This gave my parents time to calm down before saying something that couldn’t be taken back.

When we take time to digest what we hear and think before we speak, we give ourselves a chance to grow and be more empathetic to others. We’re also allowing others to better understand us. Nothing good comes from grandstanding. Being louder doesn’t mean being heard. When we are in a person’s face about our beliefs and views too much, our words become white noise. People know we’re saying something, but they’re not listening.

Right now, we have a lot of white noise happening. It’s almost deafening. It feels like EVERYONE is being so loud that nothing is being heard. When you really stop and listen to what people are saying, most are saying the same things. Most people want the same things.

What I’m seeing is a nation of people who want politicians they can trust. In that same breath, people are agreeing that you “can’t trust any of them”. That seems like a pretty big dilemma to me. We have a country full of “leaders” who are dishonest, or twist their truths. They use other people’s words out of context against them, and they bombard us with negativity everywhere we go. How in the world are we supposed to have faith in anybody running for office when all we hear is negative things about their opponent? No one wants to tell us what they plan on working toward, just all the flaws their opponent has. The emotional toll election season has on all of us is draining.

How do we fix this? As American citizens, it sometimes feels we have no power or say, but in reality, we have all of the power. Change has to start with us, not with the handful of elected officials. I’m going to throw out some of my ideas. You might love them, or you might hate them. Either way, I’m okay with it because this is not scientifically based information.

Thought 1: We are responsible for ending the two-party system. If we stop identifying as a representative of a party and start representing ourselves as a united front trying to do what is best, we can end the status quo. This isn’t going to be easy. We’ve been so indoctrinated (myself included) to believe we need to fit into a box and vote straight down a line, but that’s not true.

This is a challenge for me, but one of my goals moving forward is to look up candidates and learn what they stand for and are against without attaching their political affiliation to them. This might mean being as concrete as removing names from lists, reading them, choosing and then revealing to yourself which candidate you believe to be the most qualified. If we can do work on ourselves to remove our labels (liberal, conservative, socialist, right wing) and focus on being human, we allow ourselves the freedom to think critically without the pressure of staying in our small, neatly-labeled boxes.

Thought 2: Get more comfortable with being uncomfortable. Just because you’ve always believed something doesn’t mean that you can’t change and grow. I really believe that learning is a lifelong journey. If we cut ourselves off from knowledge, we’re limiting our capabilities.

Is there one thing holding you to a political choice? Research it. Learn and try to understand both sides of that coin. Nothing is black and white. We all live in the grey area, but we like to imagine a world with simple, straight solutions. I’m very sorry to inform you, but that world does not exist. I’m not saying that learning more about topics you disagree with will change your mind, but it will absolutely give you a better understanding of why others believe what they do. It’s so important to continue to practice your empathy toward others. It is a skill that dies without use.

Final thought: Do good things. If we all work a little harder to be kind to one another, we can make a lot of positive changes in the world around us.