Chuck Roots
30 January 2017
www.chuckroots.com
Agreeing to Disagree
When I was a kid,
my parents had very close friends that they played bridge with either in our
home or theirs a couple of times a month. Pop and Ted played golf regularly as
well. I learned a great lesson in life from watching these four friends
interact with each other. I am in their debt.
The lesson
I learned is that folks who are the best of friends can vehemently disagree and
not have it adversely affect their friendship. My step father (Pop) was a
classic New England Democrat. Don’t confuse the Democrats of today with the
Democrats from the 1950s. In fact, today’s Democrats have shifted so far to the
left that they have embraced socialism over a democratic republic. Pop was a
strong patriot who at age 31 enlisted in the Marine Corps during WWII. When it
came to social issues, Pop tended to lean more to the left. My mother was the
same even though she was born and raised in Texas. Their friends were also
Democrats but much more liberal in their views across the board. When it came
to child discipline, they were miles apart. My folks practiced “old school”
discipline, whereas their friends had bought into Dr. Benjamin Spock’s
philosophy.
I remember
hearing them have heated discussions about this policy, or that Supreme Court
decision quite frequently. Yet at the end of the evening, they remained the
best of friends. This made a big impact on me. The more I thought about it, the
more it made sense to me that you could have differences of opinion and remain
friends.
As I moved
from childhood to being an adult my world views were growing apart from my
parents. We returned from three years in Europe in 1963, just a few months from
the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. That singular tragedy affected
me and my generation that simply has no comparison, even 9/11. I was drawn more
toward conservative thinking by life events; not any one person. Pop, mom and I
would periodically have heated debates over
a myriad of things. Even though we rarely came to an agreement, whenever the
conversation ended, or mom had dinner ready, it was over. We loved each other
and nothing was going to get in the way of that. When Pop passed away in 1992,
Ted’s son, Steve, flew from his home in Connecticut to attend the funeral in
Fresno, California. In turn, when Ted passed away many years later, sister Joy
and I traveled to New Jersey to pay our respects. A few years ago my mother
passed away. Steve again made the journey west to attend the funeral. We were
all friends and we loved each other.
Today is a
far cry from what I experienced growing up. The pervading attitude seems to be,
“If you don’t agree with me, then you’re my enemy!” How did we descend into
this type of thinking?
Watching
the news on TV this past week has been somewhat unnerving. Groups who are
opposed to the Trump Administration are marching in protest carrying signs and
placards spewing the vilest and most vulgar of words. The speakers commandeering
the microphone were impossibly mendacious, revealing a hatred for anyone who
did not agree with them that bordered on mental derangement. Then there was the
school teacher who, in front of her students, took a water gun and squirted it
at an image of President Trump flashed on the chalk board, screaming “Die! Die!”
And what
of the mentally retarded young man accosted by some black thugs who terrorized
him simply for being a Trump supporter, all the while recording the event and
posting it on the Internet. These are not isolated incidents. A cursory glance
at the news is quite telling with terrible stories of hatred and violence.
We need to
be very careful of such activity. In 1930s Germany, the problems and failures
of the nation, following a humiliating defeat in WWI and a plummeting economy, were
laid on the backs of specific people groups. Jews were an early target, with gypsies,
mongoloids, and any other easy target added to the list. People who once had
been neighbors, now were enemies, all occurring virtually overnight. You don’t
think it could happen here in America? Think again! When people become fearful,
a target, an enemy, is easy to create and blame. The history of the world is
replete with such heinous activity when people are frightened.
Are
Americans fearful today? You bet they are! One of the easiest ways to determine
this is the sale of firearms. Personal safety, and the safety of one’s family,
has caused countless citizens of all races and backgrounds to apply for a CCW (Carry
Concealed Weapon) license. There is an ever-growing mistrust of our neighbor.
And residents know the police cannot always respond quickly enough to prevent
criminal activity. Cities and counties across America are terribly backlogged
in processing the voluminous surge in requests for CCWs.
The
arguments and debates of yesteryear seem as nothing compared to what we are
facing in the world today. Can we as Americans trust each other again even if
we don’t agree on everything? I sure hope so.
I’m
reminded that Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But did he mean for
us to love only those who agreed with us? No, this is not what he meant. What
does “love your neighbor” mean? The challenge to each of us is, “Am I willing
to live God’s way?” Well, are you?
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