Last week I was going to write a post about what the soundtrack of my life would be.

Then my mind got sidetracked…

And this week…instead of getting my life soundtrack…you’re going to get an opinion piece from me… Sorry Matt- maybe next week…

SO here we go:

This week, I have had acquaintance’s pester me with wanting to agree with them.

Agree with them about what?

About how “the other side is crazy. How could they vote for that old, misogynistic white guy (you can insert either candidate here, because I heard this from both sides of the fence)

I have seen posts from both sides of the aisle telling people to buck up, because it’s not over yet- their man can still win…

I have had people trying to get me to actively say that “the other side” is crazy.

Seriously.

A neighbor cornered me for fifteen minutes trying to get me to say that “the other side” is nuts…

People can’t believe the outcome is this close…

Well…

Guess what?

If you are well informed you should have seen this coming.

You haven’t actually thought about “living in someone else’s shoes”

For your lesson today, I want you to think of five reasons why the “other side” might have the opinion that they do, and they must be positive reasons. You can’t say because they are stupid, or a socialist, or anything that can be deemed nasty depending on the tone of your voice.

The only stupid people are the ones that think they are smarter than someone else…

One of the axioms I always told my daughter was that the downfall of every great society is hubris…

If you think you are better than someone else, that is hubris.

So don’t be surprised at the downfall.

Listen to what others think.

If you don’t, if you just want to badmouth those who are different than you, than we are lost.

56 thoughts on “Anything Can Happen Friday November 5”

  1. My son and I had this exact conversation last night. My opinion is similar to yours…as long as one side continues to yell “Racist” and the other side continues to yell “Socialist”, we won’t truly understand why people are choosing the candidate that they do. The reasons go beyond the surface and until we get to a point that we can rationally speak to each other about it, it doesn’t matter who is in office, we will just continue to tear each other apart.

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    1. Exactly. Someone asked me if I was “worried” and I said yes, because we the people are still acting like spoiled brats. We each have to take personal responsibility as to what happens next

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  3. This sort of conversation came up on election night as oldest daughter and I texted back and forth. We have the same views, but as it became more apparent how the outcome was headed I found myself looking deeper at how “that guy” could still be in the race and why. Division in this country has been building for decades. In so many ways he became the outlet for so many who feel unheard. I CAN relate to that in many ways, as a woman in a male dominated society for one example. Solving these issues won’t happen with this election.

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    1. No they won’t. And they won’t be solved unless we actively work together and actually listen to what people are saying instead of shouting and rants and school bully behavior. This is our future unless we learn to work together now.

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    2. I have to say that I am consistently surprised. I work at a very rough title one school. I am amazed at how many of my coworkers, neighbors in my diverse neighborhood, etc. are for the politics and policies of President Trump. We are not divided and all wish for many of the same things. This morning, I was surprised by an in depth visit from an Administrator speaking with the class from many different countries on how the United States is one of the greatest countries in the world to make something of yourself but we must all get along as history is proven that hate and distrust destroy beautiful countries. We looked at the destruction of Haiti. By the end, faith was restored in why their family fled to the states and their first commitment to learning English and working hard.

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  4. The biggest surprise for me watching from up in Canada was that people were surprised to see how close it is.

    Really? Where were you in the last 4 years? I expected a close race. I am not surprised to see just how deeply divided America is. I saw it all along…

    I do wish they can get on with it though. Get a decision.

    Hang in there… 🇺🇲🇨🇦

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      1. This is a great way to divide the country. Something smells to high hell, me thinks. We should all talk more to our neighbors and avoid the media and look closely at history. Dividing us will make us weak to our enemies.

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      2. I find Biden very creepy. Earth Spins wrote an interesting blog about his families relationship with him while growing up. I have no reason to doubt the veracity of my husband’s story. Thank you for listening.

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  5. I would say both sides vote the way they do because of life experiences, tradition, family ties, beliefs and also alliances. This goes for both sides. This election I think a lot of people just voted for the candidate they disliked the least. I feel there was a lot of rhetoric on both sides but not a whole lot of doable solutions or clear cut answers to our Nation’s issues. I’m sure people can debate this but these are my opinions and free will entitles me to my own opinions!! Sorry you have had your share of political crap this week. I wish I had some good solid solutions to make everyone happy!! Take care!

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  6. We should all be very proud of this election. #1- Record numbers of Americans voted, even during COVID. #2- Americans proved the election experts are not so expert after all. #3- Free-thinking Americans refused to be politically pigeon holed or corralled because of race, ethnicity, gender or preference of whatever kind. #4-Immigrants brought their own, personal life experiences into the “voting booth.” If you have lived under repression or escaped countries where you could not voice your opinion for fear of retaliation or ‘cancellation” you are especially sensitive to that rearing its ugly head in this country. And #5- Americans proved again that no matter how condescending the activist press is or how bullying politicians have become, most of us can STILL think for ourselves. So yay for the American people.

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  8. When we visited friends with “like-minded” views for dinner in their back yard, socially distancing, we had to whisper — in case the neighbors could hear us. I don’t want to live in a society where people are afraid to express their opinion. My son, who is in his 20s, and I have very different views, but we have such good constructive conversations. I always learn new perspectives from him. And he says he gets more understanding from our conversations, too.

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    1. Omg I know! I don’t want to ever discuss these things because people get so offended! And my views are literally issue by issue…I am all over the spectrum on things

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  9. If I were American I would likely be a democrat. I am not well versed in American politics, but Mr. Trump is not a person I could ever vote for. We have our very own image of him in the premier of our province. I didn’t vote for his party, either. I have to agree with everything Cindy said. there is much reason to celebrate this election for all the reasons she stated above. In Canada we have three major national parties and a few smaller parties that are trying to make a place at the national political table. I like the ideals of the green party, but they have few representatives and little to no chance of ever winning enough seats to form a governing party. I liken the Republican party to the Conservative party in Canada and the Democrats to our Liberal Party. This year I have spent more time learning about your country’s politics than I ever have before. It’s been interesting to say the least.

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      1. During our last national election there was much the same thing going on – people insisting that their viewpoints were the only legitimate ones.

        Don’t bang your head, You are always interesting. 🙂

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    2. Instead of looking at a party such as Democrat vs. Republican, you need to view carefully the person and the past deeds. You might be surprised by reading carefully the details included in history. Go to the library and not the newspapers.

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  10. Anything can happen except you can’t change the date of today to yesterday 😉 regardless of who wins the election. Would be a whole lot more helpful for the country if the house and senate put the people of the country before their own personal agendas. If Congress did things right the President would not be nearly as relevant.

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  11. Way back inside another time, I was married to a woman whose political viewpoints were the polar opposite of mine. And not only didn’t it undermine us, we actually flourished. We had epic debates over dinner and we moved on. And the world kept moving and there were no hard feelings.

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  12. It’s Friday, November 6, not 5. I’m pretty sure.

    And I totally get this post! I see stuff from both sides, and it’s weird. It’s like, I want to tell people to go to BOTH left and right-leaning outlets, and then maybe they’ll have the whole story, but it’s like they’re allergic to listening to “the other side.” Mmm. Strange times.

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  13. Oh boy, this is my specialty! In fact, I think it’s my weakness. I can see both sides , which makes me fairly useless in times of conflict, except for when I stand on God’s truth alone. So five reasons someone might have an opinion different from mine: they know something I don’t know. they have something valuable to lose if it goes a different way. they have had a past experience that gave them empathy for the person I do not feel empathy for. they lack information that I have that could change their opinion. Funny you posted this because yesterday we had to go buy a thing from Facebook marketplace. This took us to a very interesting couple near Austin. They were true hippies from the 60s. Both had Beto stickers on their cars. We hit it off with them instantly and stayed there for close to an hour talking. We do NOT have Beto stickers. Lol. Yet we had so much in common. Our core values are the same, but we see politics completely differently. We discussed that on the way home. My thinking is that they do not understand economics and reality, too hippie, too artistic, too living in the past. They live on a farm and make jewelry. They do not understand the bigger picture. They vote for how they WISH the world could be. I still like and love them!

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    1. We should all be as open minded! My husband saw friends yesterday. They both voted for the same candidate, yet one of them still argued with the other because the guy didn’t hate EVERYTHING about the other candidate…so even people whose values Align still fight because it’s never enough

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  15. As for this post. I’m an apathetic unaffiliated voter. Trump is proud to be a wolf in Wolf’s clothing every President prior was a wolf in sheep’s clothing corruption runs very deep in the pockets of both parties. But the president isn’t truly what’s wrong in our government. Not to mention people aren’t so concrete. There is no left & right, just like the media only thinks that Democrats & Republican’s are the only parties. There needs to be term limits across the board, people in the government should not be allowed to work past retirement age and give themselves astronomical pay raises. More women should govern that’s my dream. Tired of old white rich men deciding everything. Not to mention both sides as of late feel as if they are in it for themselves. I am ranting…As for the election, even though Joe Biden is an example of what I don’t want he brings an air of dignity to the role than Trump has ever. Joe is old school wolf. He comes across as someone with a brain that speaks to the people’s hearts whereas Trump just continues to fuel the fires that have existed in this country for centuries.

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    1. We all what what we want when we want it, all the time. Which makes us all hypocrites. But I don’t think there’s anything such as true altruism….but that’s a whole other post

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  16. Instead of blaming the leaders should we be saying that we get the leaders we deserve? This isn’t judging Americans for voting for Trump, as we have Boris over here, another joke candidate that scooped the pool. Both countries voted for buffoons who said what people wanted to hear and used the media to their advantage.

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  17. I couldn’t agree more with this post! I was amazed at how many Trump supporters assumed Trump would win, and how many Biden supporters assumed he would win in a landslide. And it was because, as you said, none of them were listening to anyone on “the other side.” And they aren’t willing to acknowledge that those who vote differently often have good and legitimate reasons for doing so. Nope, they are simply dismissed as evil idiots. We haven’t learned a thing….. which is very sad.

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    1. The negativity is scary and sad. We still need to work together, which I think everyone forgets. A new President doesn’t ensure anything if no one is willing to listen and compromise. I’m hoping we’ve learned from the past four years…

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  18. I found myself in agreement with most of the comments made in response to this post. Some of them reflect the thoughts I stated in a comment on an earlier post. My own two cents, as a senior citizen who has studied politics and voted in every election I can recall, might augment somewhat some of these comments.

    First, I am one of those angry white women who thought Hillary should have won in 2008. I mean, FFS, women are the majority in this country but are still so underrepresented at most levels of government wherever we may live and attempt to lead the stupid ignorant men around by their noses (or better yet their genitals)! I think it was so easy for those who were opposed to Obama to drum up protests against him that they easily carried over to 2012 and actually poured toxic rain on poor Hillary’s campaign after she had finally shattered the next to last glass ceiling at the federal level. (Note this response comes from a person whose goal out of college was to become the first female Secretary of State but gave it up when I couldn’t pass the foreign service exam.) Also, BTW, those same conservative wackos (and I don’t say they were all wackos) had an extra 8 years to come up with stuff to smear this otherwise demonstrably able woman.

    I am happy to note that the election this year drew out what may have been a majority of eligible voters. I’m just sorry that it took so long for many of them (and I will say that I’m mainly talking about black people here) to finally wake up to the fact that the most effective way to at least try to get the changes you want to see made is to exercise your right to vote for the candidate who at least appears to want the same changes that you do. If more of these newly woke voters had acted in what in hindsight they may now consider to have been their best interest at the time, we might have been spared the last 4 years of this chaos!

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    1. I think we have a divided country. If both sides don’t work together my prediction is the right takes the house in two years, then the presidency after that. Then, two years later the left takes over Congress. Then the left takes back the presidency. And nothing will have changed except addresses in DC. But that’s just how I view it

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      1. Like many cultural and social issues, the two diametrically opposed sides tend to take over from each other over time. I call it the pendulum effect, and it certainly applies to politics. IDK, maybe that’s just how human beings roll.

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