Choose Compassion
One of the greatest gifts in my life is having beloved friends and family who hold political beliefs which oppose mine. The reason is — it holds me accountable for my own self-righteousness. It helps me to stop judging them, and to remember that loving these people is more important than being “right”. As a former Republican, one of the most shocking realizations I’ve had from being in online unity groups, was hearing former Democrats admit that they believed their party was “morally superior” to Republicans. When I step back and look at the bigger picture (I wish more people would do this), I see that we’re all the same. We’ve all had these feelings. We are all the same.
No rational person wants to be categorized along with the extremists in the group they most identify with. Extremists should never have been allowed to define us, the majority. The extremists are exactly the same as the extremists on the opposing side. They are different from those of us who choose civility over emotional reactions. At least so far. But emotional reactions can be a disease — and they can spread. Left or right, the extremists have let fear, victim mentality, and a sense of vengeance, dictate their actions. They are obsessed with, and have become pawns of their own overblown, illogical emotions. ON BOTH SIDES of our political divide.
