This is a serious question. I am not kidding here.
I'm going to be upfront and honest and tell you right off the bat that I feel as if our current president is the most divisive person to have ever held the office- at least what I know of in my life time of very nearly 39 years.
So with that knowledge of where I am coming from, you could easily say that my view is biased. I would say that is a fair perception as I believe we are all biased in one direction or another.
Dealing with that innate personal political bias has become extremely uncomfortable for me lately.
As I have mentioned before, I am literally surrounded by very liberal people. Almost no one that I see or talk to on a regular basis is conservative in any way.
Yes, I have been doing some soul searching about why this is so.....
All of that being said, I have found that with recent events I am now not only disgusted with the political policies of the left that I see so profoundly stealing my freedoms and ruining the country that I love so much, but I am actually starting to find the people that celebrate these developments to be completely repulsive as well.
Big questions swirl around in my head.
1) Questions about why I have been forced on several occasions to try and defend my pro-life stance.
I have actually been ridiculed in group settings because I simply cannot think of a good enough reason to kill any unborn human being.
2) Questions about why there are not more people who think that if you earned it, you ought to be able to keep most of it. I know so many people who are living off the government in one way or another and I am just sickened by how sad it is that these people will never rise to their full potential.
3) Questions about what it means to believe in 'the American way'. If the American way is disappearing, then what is the right place for me?!
I feel as if continuing to expose myself to people who I feel are abusive to my senses is wrong for me. And yet I don't see myself as some crazy person who wants to be isolated from society.
If I were somewhere that people were more representative of the feelings of the American people- say more of a 50/50 split, I could at least feel safe to express myself without coming off as constantly defensive. Don't get me wrong, I have gotten pretty good at getting people to think a bit- even liberals on occasion! But I am growing very weary of feeling like the only one in the room that sees what's going on with the current administration.
While it's true that this has never been a perfect country, I really do believe that things are getting worse. And I want to be around people that are part of the solution, not those who celebrate the demise and what they might get out of it for themselves.
So I ask:
Is it time for me to move on from those who have consistently been unable to hear anything other than what they want to hear? Is it still important to try to change minds, even those you don't think can ever be changed? Is it more productive to spend my time with people I think will be part of a solution, rather than be fooled by the demise?
I won't pretend that a person can ever feel connected to everyone on the same level and I know that we must all deal with people of all types and opinions. I guess I am just wanting to know how much exposure is enough?! And what should the purpose of that exposure be?!