An Old Adage Ruins Adult Thought

With the surprising victory of President-Elect Trump this past week, there has been an outpouring of anger and jubilation depending on the side of the political spectrum you sit on. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites have exploded with memes, angry posts, jubilant posts and everything in between. This led to many on my facebook feed to chastise their friends for posting about politics, and it got me thinking about the adage, "don't discuss religion and politics," and that honestly made me angry. Are we truly so juvenile and petty that we can't discuss politics without somebody flying off the deep end? Are the majority of you like the "snowflakes" you so derisively mock for crying and weeping over Hillary's defeat? If you can't see other points of view and discuss them civilly, you are just as emotionally inept as the Yale students begging for a day off to grieve. I found myself guilty of this sometime Tuesday night, and I was ashamed, I saw a post that angered me, and I unfollowed somebody I respect. That was petty of me, but I feel it also was a learning experience for me as well, I saw the error of my ways, with the help of the friend calling me out, and I realized that I and most of the people I know, don't practice what we preach.
The Importance of Political Discussion

The reason that I feel so strongly about this is the fact that our country is based on sharing political ideas and ideals with each other. You don't have to like what I believe, nor do I need to agree with you, but we should, as grown ass adults, be able to share these ideas without crawling into the fetal position looking for our safe places. What if Thomas Jefferson, Ben Fraklin, and countless other founding fathers would have refused to engage in political discussion? I mean, I would enjoy tea time in the afternoon, but I am all about breaking away from Royal tyranny as our pals did in the 18th century. To grow as a nation and start to see a healing take place, partisan politics must take a backseat to the good for the country, and to start that process; we MUST DISCUSS THE ISSUES. I for one will never shrink away from a discussion again just because I disagree with somebody; that is what makes our country great. Get over yourselves and get to work on making this country as kick-ass as it can be!


MP