As deeply moved and heartened as I am by the rallying together for and against everything I believe in right now there’s a gnawing voice in my gut that keeps telling me this is not enough. We’re preaching to the choir. Our like-mindedness is the very thing that caused this political cancer to grow in the first place. We turned a blind eye and deaf ear to those who believe that Trump was and is the answer to “make America great…” These are the people we need to be talking to. Not yelling at or calling names…but seriously speaking to in real efforts to make positive changes.
To listen to each other. To reach out.
Jimmy Fallon had a great bit on his show called Common Ground in which both Republicans and Democrats on the street were asked what they both liked and didn’t like and in that brief moment they found that they did have something in common, they shook hands, laughed and even hugged. It was just a little moment but I found it touching and true.
SNL did a bit about people all getting along because they were living in a bubble and all felt exactly the same way. It was funny but painful to watch because in a way I believe I’m living in that same world. And I don’t want to. What I don’t want is bigotry and hatred and cruelty and exclusion of any kind in my world, but I also want different ways to get to that High Ground. Different languages and religions and races and perspectives that all have to do with love. We need to listen to each other not just with our ears but with our hearts. We need to speak at churches and mosques and gatherings where even if we get to have an intelligent discourse with one or two or a handful of those shouting on the opposite fence as ours it’s a true beginning. (Animal activists know what I’m talking about, just ask Ellen Erickson! Try telling die-hard rodeo and meat-lovers to stop and think of animals as beings to be loved and protected. Oy vey.)
Change doesn’t happen immediately. But it does happen. I have to believe that or I would give up now. It just takes one tiny pebble thrown into a body of water to make a large ripple. So let’s take our passions and put purpose behind them—more out of our comfort zones than we’re in now. That’s where change happens.
Grab a pebble, sweet ones. The times they are a-changin’…
