That is my new favorite bumper sticker. Well actually it is a three-way tie. I also really like “No Feeding The Hipsters” and “Outlaw Man Buns & Bring Back The Mullet.”
Let’s talk about who matters. Really? We need to talk about who matters? What a sad commentary that is. Of course black lives matter and blue lives matter, as do the lives of people of these persuasions: brown, skinny, chubby, nerds, entitled types, jocks, hipsters, Bromwell moms in line with their strollers at Snooze, Cherry Creek North developers, tiny-home dwellers, vegans, Bronco fans, Dungeons and Dragons players, tatted-up-leather-wearing-motorcycle-riding posers, Junior Leaguers, granolas, the homeless, white people wearing dreadlocks, trust funders, crust punkers with too much hair gel, centennials, millennials, Gen-Xers, Baby Boomers, Subaru-driving-NPR-listening-Patagonia-wearing, bleeding hearted, conservative radio listening-private-club-member-luxury-car-driving capitalists, new-wave healers, wangsters (I didn’t know this group either; my nephew told me about them; they are the white kids who act black) and curmudgeons.
We all matter … or do we?
Have we become too busy labeling, stereotyping, profiling and squabbling over the differences between us humans that many don’t feel like they matter? Or worse—that only they matter?
What is driving the divide? It’s easy to blame the government—from both sides of the aisle. Blaming it on politicians is a no-brainer. They have made comedian’s jobs really easy as of late. I blame them, too. After all, we pay them to lead our nation and to represent us all and they have lost their way. Compromising, listening to one another, working together for a better nation (and being honorable in the process) has been hijacked by division, name-calling, sabotaging tactics, childish behavior, hatred and disrespect.
Language is part of the political problem here. How someone or something is described has become code for how one votes or how they identify themselves. Let’s use immigration as an example. Liberals use the phrase “undocumented citizen” and conservatives favor "illegal aliens." Democrats and Republicans don’t simply disagree on policy, they are speaking a different language.
Neil Irwin, author of The Alchemists, wrote in in the New York Times recently about this issue.
“In recent years members of the two parties don’t merely emphasize different topics; they often use different language to refer to the same thing. Democrats refer to the ‘estate tax’ and ‘tax breaks’ while Republicans speak of the ‘death tax’ and ‘tax relief,’” Irwin noted.
Let’s not stop with the politicians as this would be selling ourselves short, being lazy or trying to get off the hook. We are all a slice of this America and we must all do our part in making it better pie.
As long-time readers of the Curmudgeon know, I hate political correctness for the sake of harmony. It is unrealistic and annoying, and too often limits discussion, debate and individualistic thought and action. But I also hate fear mongering, discrimination, hard-headedness, hatred and not hearing any voice that is different than our own.
If I remember Mrs. Heath (my 7th grade social studies teacher) correctly, she said “America is great because we are the most diverse and inclusive culture on earth. We are a nation of dreamers, inventors, artists, builders and doers. We exalt in achievement, we celebrate our differences and unique qualities. America is great in large part because we have always encouraged one another to live out a simple creed: love your neighbor.”
This was in the early 1960s before I was aware of the civil rights movement, living in Broomfield, Colorado, where I didn’t meet a black person until I was twelve. In looking back almost 50 years, I must admit old Mrs. Heath was a pretty smart cookie.
Back to our responsibility of a being a part of this team known as Americans, or as my friends in Boulder would remind me, citizens of the world. I believe it starts with listening, celebrating our different points of view and remembering that love does trump hate. We should also do all this with a sense of humor.
This old world would be pretty tricky to navigate—or just no fun—without being able to laugh at ourselves
