I Lost Friends

I had a friend who I was very close to from college and into the real world. We saw each other through ups and downs, heartbreak and triumph. I thought we would be friends forever. Then I voted.

Suddenly she didn’t want to get together, talk about anything and then she finally made the move and cut me off. She even told we why. She thought our values and lives were far too different now. But the weird thing is, she wasn’t the only one. After I voted for Trump (yes, that vote), I lost three friends with the same lame excuse for ending our friendship. Yes, I said it, lame excuse. Like, did I suddenly change who I was entirely because of my vote? Did I wake up one Wednesday in November and act, talk, and believe things I did not on Monday? No, I didn’t. But oddly, these three thought I did.

I vote for people not the political party. I vote on issues I believe in. Sometimes, I have to decide between the lesser of two evils (after all, they are all politicians no matter what they claim). So I cast my vote and suddenly I am apparently a total right wing, racist, anti-woman, kill the environment person. Uh, no.

Many of my beliefs and things I support fall squarely in the left (or so they tell us). Some things I support fall squarely in the right (or so they tell us). But in reality, I, like so many other Americans are neither all left or all right. We fall somewhere in the middle. We are a true melting pot of our political beliefs.

If you try to run a country entirely on the letter following your name on your voter registration, you will fail. We are a country of staunch liberals as well as firm conservatives. But we are also a country of those that just want to be able to live their best lives and that’s where most of us live and where our government should be looking.

Why not give a tax cut to a corporation that is also providing healthcare to their thousands of employees. That mega resort on the beach? Help it out so long as they turn down the lights during turtle spawning season. We can truly live in the middle.

Unfortunately, my three, now former, friends couldn’t or wouldn’t see it this way. They bought into the hype and propaganda that the political spin doctors and news media churn out at an alarming rate. They work to keep us confused, divided and distracted so we don’t ask too many questions or look to closely.

But I ask questions. If there is a major announcement or activity going on that the news is all over, I look at what is silently being passed through Congress that they want us to not notice. If something big happens in California, I check out what New York is doing. Or what we are doing internationally. We live in Oz and are told not to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. Some people are too distracted by the colors and sing to notice that the horse is constantly changing colors depending on which direction it is going.

But those three (yep, I’ve stopped calling them friends) made broad sweeping assumptions about who I am because of a vote. No regard to the fact that they knew me by my actions of decades of friendship. One small action on my part made them forget any kindness, laughter, support or that I stuck with them through some really difficult times.

But I shouldn’t be surprised. They have chosen the box, the label, the show. They believe what they are told to believe. They don’t ask questions. They didn’t ask questions of me such as why did I vote that way or how do I feel about this issue? Nope, they saw how I voted and closed their minds and hearts to anything or anyone that doesn’t follow the doctrine they are given by Big Brother.

Luckily, I don’t live in Oz. I clicked my heels together a long time ago and woke up. I don’t live in a pretty world of emeralds and yellow bricks. I pull back the curtain on a regular basis and I see that there is more than what we are told to believe. I don’t live in a world that is black and white but more shades of amber and grey. I don’t live in a small little box just because of the box I checked on a ballot. I am sorry those three are trapped in such a small box because there is a great big beautiful world out here.

If you like what I said, a tip would help me explore this world, continue to stay open to possibilities or maybe even run for office.