I think most peoples' reactions to Election Year 2016 can be summarized with:
There are many different choices for how to vote in November: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, or not at all. But regardless of how you are voting and why, someone will always have an opinion about your actions and those opinions will vary. Much like the answers on those deeply personal "informative" questionnaires in high school, people will either strongly agree, agree, not care, disagree, or strongly disagree with you.
This doesn't have to be a bad thing.
My discrete structures professor hypothesized what a world would look like if our opinions were not "wrong," but merely "different;" if we could hold polar opposite beliefs, and still feel validated, and respected.
I truly do believe it's possible to live in such a world. Where we don't have to sigh a resigned "Woo! OK." after every political discussion. I think most voters want to do what's best for this country. Most people have their own ideas for how the United States should be run and everyone wants their ideas to be heard. But perhaps the way to be heard more, is in fact, to listen.
For example, say I think that the best color is purple, and my friend thinks that the best color is yellow. Purple and yellow are on the opposite side of the color wheel, and I don't particularly like yellow. But if I listen to my friend, and try to understand why she likes yellow, then she will be more willing to hear out why I like purple.
After our discussion, I might still disagree. I might still not like the color yellow. But I made an effort to understand, and that action is meaningful. Besides, purple and yellow look pretty good together!
I understand that choosing who should be president in this 2016 election is not anywhere near as simple as choosing a favorite color. But I like to believe that the importance and meaningfulness of listening remains the same. The alternative is to never listen, and suffer a fate similar to two characters in a Dr. Seuss story.
The story starts out with our two protagonists walking through the prairie of Prax. They bump into each other in the middle. The North-going Zax points his finger at the South-going Zax and says, "You are blocking my path. You are right in my way. I’m a North-Going Zax and I always go north. Get out of my way, now, and let me go forth!” To which the South-going Zax responds, “Who’s in whose way? I always go south, making south-going tracks. So you’re in MY way! And I ask you to move and let me go south in my south-going groove.”
The North-going Zax of course, refuses. He vows to stand in the same spot for as long as he must. The South-going Zax then asserts that he "lives by a rule that he learned as a boy back in South-Going School. Never budge! ... Never budge in the least! Not an inch to the west! Not an inch to the east!" *
Both of the Zax hold their promises, and eventually so much time passes that a highway is built around them.
Their stubbornness is comical. When I read this story as a child, I was baffled how the Zax chose to waste their entire lives standing in one spot. Sure their directions were diametrically opposed, but I didn't think it was too difficult to move a little bit to the side.
At the time, I thought of this story as nothing more than a couple of stubborn Zax in a prairie. But the more I examine my motivations, the more I realize that I have the tendency to be a Zax as well. So convicted that I am right, I have a hard time setting aside my pride and simply listening to the thoughts of others. It's far too easy to dismiss something I disagree with outright because it doesn't fit my ideals.
"No, you're wrong, purple is obviously the best color, and who would ever like yellow?"
It's hard to acknowledge that I can be fiercely stubborn; convicted that I am right and others are wrong. But if I want others to listen to me, I have to listen too. That's how to gain understanding, and build bridges instead of having a bridge built above me because I refuse to move an inch to the west or the east.
We may not agree on who should be president, or how our country should be run. But I sincerely believe that listening more, compromising, and seeking to understand instead of seeking to be "right" can help us move one step closer to a world where no one is "wrong." We're just ... different.
