Morning Dew

 Many of my friends and family are deeply affected by this past presidential election. As each has asked me for my opinions I have been slow to respond. I did not want to merely react to the news of our President Trump. I needed to step back and try to find some context to our country's great divide. Half of my friends voted one way, half the other, a few third party patriots thrown in for good measure. I find myself exposed to so many differing viewpoints. From immigration to the environment, economy to Supreme Court, no five people seem to agree on anything. How can this be the 'United' States ? After all, we are split incredibly right down the middle. Or are we really ?
 I have watched our president elect since the 1970s, when he rode into Atlantic City on his white horse to save the crumbling city by introducing casinos to the east coast. The financial windfall was going to save New Jersey's public school systems, and AC would become the Vegas of the East. Let's just say it did not quite work out that way. Since that time I've always been somewhat skeptical, and admittedly not a fan of his style either. This past campaign was sordid by anyone's standards, filled with allegations and vitriol that should make no American proud. What it was not full of was mature policy discussions. Unfortunately in 2016 we live in a world where it is more important to be 'right' than learned. We yell, argue and litigate our positions. When someone disagrees with our opinions we question their intent, intelligence or patriotism. We belittle those of differing opinions, casting them as unworthy or ignorant. We say so many things to each other, but we seem incapable of doing the one thing that would help us evolve.
 We don't listen. Truly listen. We fail to put down our advocacy bullhorns and hear what folks of differing beliefs have to say. Clinton supporters call Trump supporters names, and vice versa. How productive. We don't tolerate, or shouldn't, this behavior from children. Yet it is exactly how this country acts when politics are involved. We turn into repulsive adolescents, stamping our feet when we hear things that we find disagreeable. We look for the comfort of those with similar viewpoints as our own. Better to reinforce our own thinking than to ever question it. Unfortunately we learn little that way, other than to maintain this unhealthy divide of ours. Plato said that rhetoric was intended for persuasion purposes only, never really in the search for justice or knowledge. So instead of discussing how to improve education and healthcare, protecting our environment and our collective future, we listen to name calling. Worse, we seem satisfied to keep it on this level.
 So the political season ends. It appears we found out more about who we are as a nation than we learned about our future leaders or policies. The woes of Plato's days persist, we still struggle with self governance and statesmanship. We are too emotional, we have this unending need to feel good, and to think we are 'right.' What we truly need is to be humble. To understand that no one of us has all the answers. That we are better when we lock arms and march together than when we tear each other apart. That people of differing backgrounds and belief systems need to work together to be the great nation that we can be. These are my opinions. It is with this in mind that I encourage all to move beyond this moment we seem stuck in. There is a greater picture here, one we don't often see because we are looking in the wrong places. And so much for us to learn, about our world and each other.
 If only we would listen.