This time 4 years ago I was thinking that I would need to move out of the country soon. I was in Ohio at the time. Everywhere I looked were signs about marriage. You know, the sophomoric stick figures of a man and a woman...there was a war going on but THIS was what Ohioans were thinking about. I was so overwhelmed by disappointment that the USA was so easily distracted and could re-elect such a buffoon. Later, I saw a bumper sticker that read, "Bush 2004: Thanks for not paying attention." That was exactly how I felt.
Tonight I have hope.
It took long enough, but thankfully people were paying attention this time.
1 Lovies:
In the spirit of pointing out the occasional outlier here and there, not all Ohioans were thinking only of trivial things. Perhaps the less-noticed were standing there shaking their heads as the "visible" rattle on and call attention to themselves, not using one single brain cell as they do so and certainly not listening to the other side. Dialogue with regard to emotionally charged political rhetoric has been lost and replaced by shouting and intolerance for points of view that can and should be discussed with mutual respect and open-mindedness. Discourse gets buried once someone hears an opinion they disagree with and there is no "agree to disagree". I've had it happen to me several times. Somebody asks me what my opinion is on X and the second I say something they don't agree with, tolerance and respect go out the window and I'm finding myself attacked. I always find this a little startling because I'm not one to force my views on others, in fact I keep most things to myself for just this very reason. So I guess the thought I'm left with is one shouldn't ask if they really don't want to know. If one desires to indoctrinate me, then at least be like the missionary folks who go door to door with their leaflets and their stated objectives. At least they're honest about what they're doing.
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