I have been doing some political pondering lately – it’s little wonder really, we are swimming in politics right now. Here in Canada we are running a pageant for Prime Minister – it’s a race to see who can out talk, out sell and out do, their opponent. It’s noisy – we aren’t all that accustomed to this sort of banter here in the north. We Canadians pride ourselves on politeness – our sorriness for things not even our fault is world renowned. This election is full of issues that spark passion and this has kicked things up a notch – some of the exchanges between candidates are almost embarrassing. There is a sense of division among voters, discussions bordering on anger. It’s uncomfortable.
It’s the division among voters that is giving me pause, the anger seeping into day to day conversations. I’m not good with confrontation or being put on the spot. Sure, I have opinions, some of them strong, but I’m trying hard to leave my soapbox at home right now.
I recall watching Malcolm Gladwell (a Canadian journalist and speaker – staff writer with The New Yorker) in an interview on CBC with Wendy Mesley in 2016 (https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/80144851576) in which he suggests we, as a general population, have more in common with one another than not.
I’d never witnessed anything as divisive as the US election of 2016 – it was positively frightening even from my vantage north of the 49th. Then I watched the divisiveness seep into Ontario in 2018 – ever closer to home – and it made me fearful for what could happen here this fall. But then I thought about Malcolm Gladwell and the notion that we are more akin to one another than not and I settled down.
I’ve had an experience recently that put this theory to the test. I sat beside a woman on a flight from Vancouver to Winnipeg in July – we struck up a conversation, as strangers are sometimes wont to do when placed in close quarters for an extended period of time, and became fast friends. We had much in common, much to talk about and laugh about. The hours flew by. We exchanged contact information as the plane landed and proceeded on our merry ways.
This new acquaintance had occasion to come to the coast for a visit later in the summer. Again we discovered how much we had in common. It’s only in the weeks since her visit that I have deduced that we also had uncommonalities. Her Facebook posts suggest our opinions about things like politics, faith, pipelines and climate change are vastly different. I’m betting if we had discussed those differences first our original conversation would have died. We would have stepped off the plane and disappeared into our lives never knowing we might have been friends but for the few things that built the wall between us.
Politicians focus on our differences, they have to – that’s how they win the race. Voters have to choose the candidate who aligns the best with their own beliefs – this is how elections work. This should not be something that divides us or affects how we meet or treat our friends. Our opinions belong in the ballot box, not at the supper table.