election 2016

  
Dearest Liz and Chris

It is easy to become frustrated or even furious when we sense what we interpret as ignorance in our society, and especially when we perceive it in our friends. 

I want to remind you of something that we have tried to elevate in your lives above even knowledge and insight.  It is why we eagerly sent you to public schools, and why your grandparents invested in your college education at large public universities. 

It was to learn the concept of tolerance and the ability to make friends and communicate with all kinds of people, including people you may feel are uneducated, biased, or misled. 

In our civil society, our hope is in the ability to love and serve even (and especially) those with whom we disagree. We have no hope of dialog or change unless we have communication and mutual respect. Using insulting and dismissive language will not change our society. Unconditional love, and an ear to understand the concerns of others are necessary. 

While it may appear misguided to us, there are some who are much more influenced by what they believe to be the impact of a presidential candidate on the future supreme court, or national security, or the growing size of government, or the right to bear arms, or many other issues that might seem subordinate to us. 

Some act simply on an instinct for change because they feel unempowered. 

As an example, our faith community attracted us because we agree to love and serve each other and together build ministries to serve others and introduce them to Jesus Christ, even though we may disagree on politics. Our imperative to love and serve others and explain the love of Jesus to them does not depend on our politics or their politics or who ends up as president. 

For what it is worth, my approach is to build relationships that allow me to understand why another person might think differently about the world than me. Only then does it make sense to try to explore those feelings and discover if more information could lead to a different opinion. I also enjoy working with people who may have different politics by choosing projects where we can agree to serve together. This then earns a sense of trust and appreciation that might lead to dialog, eventually. 

Don’t be discouraged. I’m not. I love my friends not because of their politics or in spite of their politics, but because they are my friends.