Can't We All Just...

Otherwise known as... Don't Hate Me Because I'm Prudish... :-)

I have an old friend (no doubt, several old friends, and family too) whose political leanings lie on the opposite end of the spectrum from my own.

And that's okay.

What makes America great should be the ability for us to share our ideas and speak openly with each other and acknowledge when we respectfully disagree.

I have no problem with respectfully disagreeing.

Really.

Every once in a while I will happen upon a Facebook post that just begs for a differing opinion.  I don't get a charge out of jumping into the fray, I just feel like sometimes people need a calm voice of reason.  At least, that's my aim.   And this truly is quite rare.  Most of the time, I just pass these posts by... and then occasionally, I feel like I'm a spectator just allowing something bad to happen.  In that case, I make an exception, take a deep breath, and make my voice heard.  Again, in an effort to be the voice of reason.

Last year, a friend had posted about Obamacare, and the people commenting were quite passionate, but a lot of what they were saying came from... fear... not fact.  So I did my best to calmly present another point of view... as well as facts regarding Obamacare, not merely hyped up fear-mongering.  In the end, as I expected we would, we agreed to disagree and talked about me coming over to share my expertise on vegetable gardening.

Our common ground.

A couple of weeks ago, on my deceased dad's birthday, this same old friend tagged me on a Facebook post which again decried the injustices caused by Obamacare, and in the post asked me what I thought of Obamacare now?  There were other folks tagged as well.  People who had taken part in the initial discussion.  People who disagreed with me.  And that's fine.  Again, what makes America great is that we can have differing opinions, and nobody ends up in jail because of their opinion.

Right?

Well, I had received this communication at the end of a long, emotional day.  I had worked 13 1/2 hours.  I wasn't in the mood to be the punching bag.  I could have ignored it, but I decided to respond, succinctly:  Yes, I still support Obamacare.  I do not wish to engage in debate.  I untagged myself from the post, wound down, and went to bed.

The next day, I attempted to check out the post, curious to see the exchange.

I had been unfriended, and thus, unable to indulge in the little bit of voyeurism.

Wow.  

Never mind that I hadn't seen this person since high school.  Never mind that she had seen fit to expound on the wrongness of my espousing of marriage equality in the previous week.  (And once again, we agreed to disagree.)  Never... mind.

It makes me sad that our country has gotten so polarized on issues, that we can't even have differing opinions without feeling like we can no longer be Facebook friends.  Don't get me wrong... I have "friends" on FB, that I choose not to see in my Newsfeed, because honestly, their posts aren't my cup of tea.  Every once in a while, though, I'll check in and see what they've been up to.  In extreme cases, I have unfriended people as well... but not over something so trivial as a difference in political opinion.  (Usually this is due to vulgarity.  I'm a bit of a prude.  I know it.  I own it.  I'm not interested in excessive use of expletives-- or nudity.... on FB anyway!!!)

I don't like to use my blog as a platform for politicism, but the whole "unfriending" over the fact that I supported-- and yet refused to debate-- Obamacare has flummoxed me, and I thought that maybe in writing, I could put the pieces together and make sense of it.

I can't.

I just wish... we could all get along.  Don't you?

Author's note:  The author accepts that in writing this post, she is opening the door to being told her support of marriage equality or Obamacare is wrong.  She is aware that folks who feel differently are strongly opposed to these issues.  She gets it.  She is not going to change.  Neither is the conservative reader.  She is okay with that.  She does welcome, however, a dialogue around how we can have a more civilized discussion about issues-- without attacking the character, or endangering the friendship, of those whose beliefs are different from our own.