Didn’t realize I was all that and a bag of chips!

After hearing the discussions people have been having and the statements that folks have made this week, I must say that I’m flattered. And more than a little ashamed of my fellow Americans. Don’t get me wrong, people have the right to say what they want in this country, which is part of what makes this country so great. I don’t deny anyone that basic, essential freedom.

I do, however, wish that people might use it differently sometimes. In the past week, I’ve been: likened to “pomps whores, & wellfare brats & their soulless supporters,” in addition to “subhuman varmint” who believes that “others must pay for [my] obesity booze cellphones birthcontrol abortions & lives.” And that was just by one washed up rock “star.”

A former students insinuated that I was a “dumb ass,” and a family member even threatened to disown me.

All because of politics? Is this how far we’ve come? Really? In 2012?

A few thoughts on the election…

I don’t normally do political posts. In fact, this is the first one I will have posted on this blog. So here goes…

1. The world is not going to end now that President Obama has won reelection. I know it feels that way, which I’ll get to in a second, but it’s really not a sign of the end times apocalypse of Biblical proportions. Yes, the feeling is terrible. In 2004, a whole lot of us experienced a similar feeling. The sting in 2004 was compounded by exit polls that showed Kerry leading. That didn’t work out so well. Anyway, just give it a couple of days. That awful feeling will pass and you’ll start to feel better. 

2. It’s time to start playing nice. I read a lot of liberal blogs and while there have been some possibly deserved gloating and lots of well-deserved “WHOO! We did it!” posts, I’m also reading a whole lot of this sentiment: let’s move on. We’ve seen how destructive and nasty Washington can be. Looking at the results of last night’s election – and thinking back to the midterms in 2010 when a slew of Republicans came into office tipping the House back to the Republicans – it seems that people just want Washington to work for them. Stop the nastiness and pettiness and grandstanding and just get some stuff done to push the country forward. (In fact, if I were the Prez, I might have to issue Congress a challenge: put a truly bipartisan jobs bill on my desk by February and I’ll sign it. You know, to show people that Washington can actually do something.) 

3. Do and say unto others as you would have them do and say unto you. Aka: It’s time to stop making instantaneous value judgments of other people (this is really just a corollary to #2). This has been bugging me for quite some time now and just boiled over today as I read posts on social media and throughout the blogosphere. 

Several posts I read today contained this sentiment: “It’s ridiculous that people went out and voted just because of gay marriage and abortion.” And it’s funny, because lots of people said that in 2004 about Bush supporters when such initiatives were placed on ballots to increase enthusiasm among the evangelical voters. I’ve also seen things like: “Glad I get to work my ass off for four more years to pay for some moochers who are too lazy to go get a job.” I could go on and I probably even said some similar things in 2004 about people who supported Bush.

But in the intervening years, I’ve learned a few things. Marriage, children, jobs, real life…they tend to teach the best lessons. So will working in conservative America as a liberal. So will standing before 30 kids in a classroom and trying to get them to do what you’re asking. And the big lessons I’ve learned are 1) we cannot automatically categorize people based on insufficient data and baseless assumptions and 2) we’ll get way farther in life if we build consensus and camaraderie.

Lesson 1: If you think people voted because they like their Welfare check and are too lazy to go get a job, that’s fine. If you’re absolutely convinced that people went out to vote based on abortion and or gay marriage, then OK. You’re more than welcome to think whatever you like. But I see so many people (on social media and in real life) who instead of doing research or attempting to be compassionate and empathetic, just rush to judgment. We’ve gotta stop doing that.

Part of being a teacher is being OK with agreeing to disagree. Thirty-three people crammed into a room certainly don’t agree on everything, but we can all agree to be tolerant and respectful. I don’t see that in so much of the public discourse. A student and I had a good conversation the other day. He didn’t change my mind, nor did I change his (nor was I trying), but we each walked away from each other with a better understanding of where we were coming from. We didn’t yell. We didn’t call each other names. Sure, the conversation was heated at times, but we maintained a calm, respectful tone.

It’s just not that hard. And I know how easy it is to blow off steam because of a disappointing turnout. But in the weeks to come, we’ve gotta forgive and forget. It’s time to move on. It’s time to forgive and forget. It’s time to push for understanding each other. It’s time that we realized that it’s OK to agree to disagree. And we can’t hate each other for it.

Which leads us into Lesson 2. Camaraderie. Consensus. I believe – as the President said in his acceptance speech last night and several other times in the past few years: there’s far more that unites us than that divides us. It’s time to focus on that. I truly believe that both sides probably agree on much more than they’re willing to admit. It’s time to admit it. It’s time to have discussions and figure out where those areas of commonality are. We can develop camaraderie and fellowship by seeking out those areas. Then, when it comes to areas that are perhaps a little more dicey, we’ve built relationships with each other and should be able to have what might be difficult discussions respectfully. Hell, we might even be able to reach compromise that makes us all happy.

4. Get involved! We are a country that is always striving to live up to that Constitutional dictum to create a more perfect union with a government that is supposed to be of, by, and for the people.

I’m teaching American literature again this year and it dawned on me that many of us probably need to get more involved. Look at the founding fathers – discussing, debating, declaring independence, and fighting for what they believed in. Thoreau encouraging us to engage in civil disobedience: “if one HONEST man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this copartnership, and be locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in America.” And Dr. King preaching, and conducting sit-ins, and marching, and facing the police dogs, and, yes, going to jail for that dream that he and so many others believed in and fought diligently for.

And I look around and see that many of us could probably be doing much more. I’m not out there trying to feed the hungry. I’m not out there trying to find solutions for the homeless folks in downtown Fort Myers. I’m not writing to the newspaper about problems within our community. I wonder how this nation might change if were to all take that “of, by, and for the people” a little more seriously?

I’m very glad we live in a country that allows us to express our opinions and thoughts. I’m very glad that I have a good cross section of friends and acquaintances, some of whom I agree with much of the time, others whom I agree with very seldom…but whom I also love and respect and cherish. And I love this time of year: elections, politics…it’s just fun for me.

But I’m reminded again and again of that challenge to create a more perfect union. I hope that in the challenging times that lie ahead, we can truly come together as one people…one nation…and work side by side and demonstrate compassion and find ways to compromise and seek out common ground so that we can do all that we need to do in order to ensure that America remains the greatest country on earth.