A friend of mine since childhood posted something on Facebook Saturday morning that caused me to stop and think about the state of our lives, all of our lives, and how we interact.

He’s a conservative Christian, a father and husband, retired from working in municipal government and now works with a Christian-based non-profit group in Texas that truly is doing some excellent work in its community to partner churches and businesses to help meet the needs of residents.

I’m single, never married, no children, just pets. While I’m a fiscal conservative, I’m also a social liberal. And, yes, you can be both.

He is not a fan of our president. I am, voted for him, respect the way he has handled a Congress more intent on party and special interests than working toward compromise and a better life for those they were elected to represent. I respect the way our president and his family have handled the obvious racial hate spewed at them for the last almost eight years. I’m ashamed at what they’ve had to endure.

He despises Obamacare. He had a Cadillac-type insurance package and to get the same or even similar coverage, his health insurance costs rose significantly.

On the other hand, Obamacare has been important to me, has decreased significantly the monthly health care premium I pay at work and has guaranteed me insurance coverage of existing illnesses should I change jobs. When you’re 54, as I am, that’s important.

Despite our differences, he and I realize we have much in common and have managed to stay civil in our interactions back and forth on Facebook.

When we haven’t agreed on an issue, he’s had his say, I’ve had mine and we’ve been able to remain friends.

The problem is, looking at an issue from someone else’s point of view is difficult if you don’t know that person.

The thing he posted that provoked me made fun of liberals as compared to conservatives. It was cloaked as a joke of sorts, but the post claimed liberals want to ban all guns, wants conservatives to “take care” of them. Claims all liberals want any mention of God and Jesus silenced.

Obviously, those things aren’t true. And, I am every bit as guilty of posting similar things that put conservatives in a not so pleasant light.

It made me wonder, what would happen if we stopped insulting others who think differently than we do? If we stopped making “jokes” that were actually meant to hurt or damage or demean?

What if we focused instead on what we have in common?

I’m not sure exactly when things in our government turned so bad. I remember a time when our elected representatives were able to come together, despite the different interests of their parties, and forge compromise. Such is simply out of the question today.

Our elected representatives — on both sides — don’t serve their constituents. They serve the special interests that finance their campaigns and later write the bills they sponsor. Politicians spend 70 percent or more of their time after being elected trying to keep their job.

One thing I think both sides — conservatives and liberals — can agree on is we need to fix Congress. We need to enact term limits. We need campaign finance reform. We need strong ethics regulations that won’t allow a corporation or special interest to purchase the loyalty of our elected representatives.

I think all can agree we need to bring back the art of compromise.

Let’s focus on the things we have in common. Let’s focus on promoting the things we think are important in our government and society without tearing down those who think differently than we do.

I think if we would stop the hate for just a moment and focus on the big picture of what we all want, we would get there much faster and the journey would be much more pleasant.

 

Jan Griffey is editor of The Vicksburg Post. You may reach her at jan.griffey@vicksburgpost.com. Readers are invited to submit their opinions for publication.