This past week has shaken me. The assassination of Charlie Kirk has not only left me saddened, but even more disturbed by what came after, people all across the country celebrating his death online. Cheering. Mocking. Rejoicing that a man was killed.
That is sick. That is not who we should be.
I truly believe it’s our differences that create the rainbow that is our country. Not our sameness. Not our echo chambers. Our differences.
When I was a kid, friendships often started over the simplest things: the same Trapper Keeper, the same favorite band, even a shared dislike for how a teacher treated their students. One of my oldest and dearest friendships began that way. Fast forward many years, and she is now a conservative Christian, while my beliefs fall somewhere between pagan and agnostic (closer to American Indian spirituality than anything else). And yet, we are still friends. We respect one another. We don’t judge, we don’t try to change each other, we just… accept.
And that’s the way it should be.
My circle of friends spans the spectrum. Some are deeply conservative, some strongly liberal. And I love each and every one of them. Because our common ground isn’t found in politics. It’s in the love of animals, the joy of gardening, the crafts we create, and the simple beauty of living life.
Just think for a moment, what a dull, gray place this would be if we were all exactly alike. A world of “sameness” would be nothing more than a conveyor belt of people, stamped out like bricks in the wall. Pink Floyd said it well: Another Brick in the Wall. And who really wants that?
We don’t have to agree to get along.
We don’t have to agree to like one another.
If a conversation about politics or religion turns sour, then drop it. Move on to something you can enjoy together. Life is too short to waste it tearing down the very people who make life worth living.
Take my marriage as an example. Jim and I have been married 32 years. And trust me, we have some big differences in our beliefs. Yet I wouldn’t trade him for anyone. We respect each other enough to allow room for those differences. His reasons are valid for him, and mine are valid for me. Instead of demanding sameness, we listen. We learn. We complete one another.
Imagine if our country worked that way.
This is my hope: that we return to celebrating our similarities and respecting our differences. That we grow up past the grade-school level of “You like vanilla, I like chocolate, so we can’t be friends.” That we remember friendship and love have never required perfect agreement, they’ve only ever required respect.
Let’s be bigger than the hate. Let’s bond over what we love, not break apart over what divides us. ❤️
