And whoda thought I'd be writing THAT subject line!
"We are not as divided as our politics suggest"
It is probably sad that it takes tragedy, especially man made ones, to seem to "bring us together" or for us to find our common humanity. We are often chided for our expressions of patriotism on the world stage. Too much chanting of "USA" and flag waving that other countries often find kinda borderline jigoistic. But that is on the national stage, a stage where often these touchstones are all we have. But it tends to avoid the underlying reality. Get closer to a community and you'll find much more human expressions of commonality. I've experienced it many times after weather calamities like blizzards and hurricanes.
Just a small example. We had a large storm that had done serious damage to trees and property. The next day a new storm was brewing and rain was starting to fall very heavily. The street started to flood a bit and flowing down hill towards a couples house. The storm sewer drain quickly filled with debris from the previous day's storm. It was obvious that it could overflow, and the water would then spill over and ultimately flow into the couples house. They were soon out there trying to clear the drain of VERY heavy debris. I threw on some boots and ran out to help. I was yanking on a branch to try to get it moved when literally I saw a "third arm" reaching it to help. It was one of my neighbors. Soon 5 or 6 of us were out there pulling, piling, clearing and working to help prevent the couples house from flooding. It was marginally dangerous work. Deep water piling up, heavy branches, slippery everything, and most of us had gloves and boots on and not much else in the way of "work clothes".
The story holds more meaning for me because of who all these people were. The couple, were the two gay men that had moved in recently. Cause a bit of a stir, especially with the my neighbor who constantly fussed about them being around his sons. That was the arm reaching in to help. Of the others there, I can't think of one that hadn't somehow raised an eyebrow, or mumbled something when they moved in. And yet we were all standing in ankle deep water, fighting a potential flood for a couple that most of us didn't really know all that long or all that well.
We are not as divided as our politics suggest. Put us in the right context and we are just people ready and willing to pull on a bit of debris to help someone else. Even in rain, or snow, or flood.
I hear the expressions of amazement about the people that ran TOWARDS the explosions. I can be both "amazed" or happy about that, but I also don't actually find it nearly as "rare" as others. The commonality of that characteristic is greater to me than many others seem to think. I don't think I've ever felt "alone" when I found myself pitching in somewhere. More often than not, all too quickly there is often far too much "help".
I've gone on too long, but it bears repeating.
We are not as divided as our politics suggest. Even here on DU.
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