The Peoples Page
Courtney Leigh Huber
Bridging the Gap
I was pondering the possibility of bridging the gap, I should say chasm, between Republican and Democratic ideology and a recent conversation with my staunch Republican brother came to mind. He worked for one of the biggest if not the biggest oil company in America his entire career. One of his latest positions in that company involved working with other oil companies to effect regulatory change in Washington. I, on the other hand worked most of my career as a repair service tech for a large well-known retailer. During my employment with said company, I had several times taken on an active role with fellow employees attempting to organize under a variety of different Unions, over many years. All our attempts were quickly crushed by the company’s all-powerful Union busting machine. My brother is now retired, but still working as a part time consultant for the same company. I have been disabled and collecting Social Security for the past 10 years. I could not retire from my company because at the time I became disabled, I had not reached the minimum retirement age. Because I could not leave my company as a retiree, I could not collect any retirement benefits such as continuance of health insurance.
I think you know what I am getting at here! My Brother could never understand where I was coming from nor could I ever understand where he was coming from. Our positions in life and our professions have molded our mindsets in completely different ways. As such, we come to the table with completely different priorities and viewpoints. I am certain from my life long observations that a person’s circumstance in life plays a large role in framing their political viewpoints. There are those though, that vote and argue about politics in lock step with their parent, friend, husband or wife, or even their favorite “News” channel. I hope those are the minority though!
Our conversation did not start out politics, but it sure ended up going there! He made his points and some I had to agree with and I made mine, which he had to agree with also. On much of the rest that we had discussed, we had to just agree to disagree so to speak. In the end though, we both felt a little bit of enlightenment, which was a good thing. Maybe we were only able to discuss the issues with relative calm only because we were brothers, but I do not think so. We were both open minded and tried to look at the issues through the other person’s eyes.
Remember we tend to hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see. In the end, each one of us wants the same things for our friends, our families and ourselves. We want a secure home, a job at a decent wage, our health and most of all our freedom.
Submitted by Tom C.
