I picked up Katherine from school and headed off for our semi-regular Wednesday errands: a stop by the comic book store, and picking up a take-and-bake pizza from Papa Murphy’s.<\/p>\n
“Yay! I saw an Obama-Biden!” she proclaimed from the back seat as we wended through neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
“Yay!” I agreed.<\/p>\n
“Boo!” she said, as we passed by a house whose lawn was festooned with McCain-Palin and local race GOP banners.<\/p>\n
A moment to ponder.<\/p>\n
“Y’know,” I said, “I think it’s okay to cheer for my candidate. But I don’t think it’s nice to boo people who support the other person.”<\/p>\n
A pause. “Okay.” Another pause. “A bunch of people at school were saying bad things about the people for president that they didn’t like.”<\/p>\n
I think for a moment. “It’s a real temptation to say that a candidate you don’t like is stupid, but I think it’s better to cheer for your candidate than to say mean things about the other candidate. It’s okay to say that you disagree with what a candidate says. Or that you don’t think a candidate is the best choice for president. But you shouldn’t be mean to other people.”<\/p>\n
It’s tough being partisan in a positive, constructive fashion, or to focus on issues rather than just taking shots at the opposition. I am very painfully aware of that, even as a profoundly Nice Guy. <\/p>\n
My hope is that, whatever political beliefs Katherine develops for herself, she’ll remember that the expression of those beliefs is just as important. We cannot be a society of Us vs. Them, especially when They are only a few percentage points of the populace away from Us. It’s okay — expected, even important — to differ on the issues. But I’m not comfortable with name-calling in the Third Grade, where Katherine is, let alone among adults.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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