Social Media Disappointment

Part of why I have not been nearly as active in social media is because of the divisive nastiness of so many people on these platforms. I like and love all of my friends on them, regardless of political or ideological affiliation. I just get sick of all the fighting and intolerance.

I am going to share a story. Many years ago, there was this group of US sailors that came into port in a foreign country. They were hungry and wanted to explore, see the culture, and find some authentic food. They went into this establishment where the owners spoke no English. The only other group of patrons in the establishment were a bunch of Soviet sailors. This was during the end of the cold war, but there was still a LOT of distrust between the Capitalist Pigs and the Communist Dogs.

Here is the thing though, we were all in a foreign country and none of us spoke the local dialect. Some of the Soviets spoke English though, and we all had Navy in common, so we sat together. We just signaled with hand gestures and, with a lot of laughing at ourselves, ordered food and drink.

They broke bread together. We laughed together and by the end of the meal; we were friends/comrades. Before we parted ways, we exchanged watches, military patches, military pins and hugs.

My question to all that read this longer than intended story is this; If a bunch of military men from VERY opposing countries and ideologies can get together, break bread, and be human together, then why can we not do that amongst ourselves as a nation?

We, the people in the United States, have so much more in common than the people in the story above. What I see is that we have lost sight of our humanity, lost the ability to truly listen, and lost the ability to respect others of differing ideologies.

The sad part is that boiled down to the basics, we all want the same things. This being said, we have also allowed ourselves to HATE, to be uncompromising, to blindly follow a party or ideology with little individual thought, and to only listen or follow what the group says, or “believes”.

What I would love to see is us all just breaking bread, partaking in community, and parting as friends to go back to our groups, BUT go back with our eyes and hearts opened to the possibility that we could all remain friend, respecting one another, and maybe, just maybe listening and trying to understand where the others are coming from, and that hey we all want basically the same things. Know that we can work together, compromise, and make the best decisions for ALL of us.