Good Friday Afternoon,
It’s been yet another rancorous week in our little country, another week where the divides between rural and urban, coasts and interior, and racial issues have come up for the… too many to count time.
I’m not sure what to make of all of it - I’m not sure that I recall any time in my lifetime where folks can’t seem to find any common ground on any of the issues that face us. Have the divides between rural and urban become that large? Are middle class and poor people in the city that different from those in the country? I call out the rural/urban because, when you look at the data, that’s really where the splits are - and I have said, having lived in both, that blue-collar folks in the city have much more in common with blue-collar folks in the country than they do with other urbanites.
I’m lucky - I have friends that are definitely on the other side of the political aisle that I can talk with, respectfully, and can often find common ground on. The most ardent gun owners don’t want to see mass shootings. The most fervent miners and drillers don’t want to see pipeline explosions or water pollution. But somehow, those conversations aren’t making their way up to the talking heads, to the pundits, to the bloggers, or to the politicians.
Maybe if we were doing the old fashioned way, stopping by, sitting on the swing, and having a talk with each other, we’d find more empathy and more places to work together than screaming at each other on the internet.
Stop, and lets visit a while.
Hope folks have a great weekend.