With the upcoming presidential election being as exciting and as important as it is, it is hard to go a day without being involved in conversations about it.

Conversations surrounding not only the presidential election, but other local and state elections, are really good conversations to have. If healthy, they will encourage education and awareness about the importance of voting and of knowing about the candidates involved.

Yet, every time a conversation about politics begins, I cringe a little bit. I don’t cringe because it is a negative conversation or because I don’t care about it, I cringe because I know there are great chances of disagreements and tensions arising.

The problems with disagreements and tensions is not that they exist, it is often how people respond to those disagreements where problems can occur. Often times, there is not enough patience given for people to defend and explain their opinions and where they are coming from. Sometimes, in being too quick to defend your belief, you miss the chance of understanding somebody else’s.

This is not to say that with some patience added to these conversations everything would be jolly, and we would all get along. I understand that sometimes people just do not listen and are unwilling to understand the other side of the argument. There are going to be many people that you encounter that will frustrate you and test your patience, that’s a fact.

In recognizing the patterns of some people though, you will be better able to respond in a manner that leads to a progressive and positive conversation. You cannot control others’ thoughts or actions, so it’s important to be able to control yours. This is especially important if you want to create conversations that are not cringe worthy.

When these conversations can exist with mutual respect for the disagreements present, then those are the conversations I want to be a part of.

Aside from the disagreements and tensions that arise, I know that I have also avoided conversations and writings about politics because it forces me to admit that I don’t know everything surrounding every issue.

Depending on your level of involvement and interest in politics, you are going to know more or less than the person next to you. You don’t have to know everything about everything to be involved, and that’s important to remember. It is still a personal and civic responsibility to be educated and attempt to be involved in some respects though.

So, what does this all mean?

It means that I know how easy it is to either ignore political debates entirely or become frustrated easily with all of them. And my hopes are that you would not shy away from them as I have in the past. I hope you are able to embrace the conversations so to help improve the negative ones that happen. I hope you help change and improve the dialogue surrounding not only the upcoming elections, but elections and politics as a whole.