Two years ago I ‘lost’ a friend I had had for 50 years over an issue that involved politics, i.e., over differing views about how each of us saw an issue that one of us felt deeply passionate about. It was a painful loss then and remains a painful loss.

Now, the split that has emerged in the country from the presidential election is one that I see and hear spilling into friendships and into families.  I personally don’t want to repeat the experience I had two years ago, and similarly, I am deeply concerned about the conflicts I see emerging on both a national level and personal and family levels.

I don’t have any answers about how we might respond to these current differences nor how we might prevent these conflicts from splitting friends and splitting families.

Do we simply ignore them and pretend they don’t exist?

Do we try to put our disagreement(s) aside and carry on with our friendships and families by simply agreeing to disagree?

Do we retreat into our own worlds, our own ‘bubbles’ and just spend time with those with whom we are in agreement?

Do we try to talk with those who see and believe so differently from how we see and experience the world?

As I said above, I do not have an answer or answers to these questions, and I am disturbed both for our country and for myself, my friends, and my family about these differences and how they are affecting us.

What I want to know is whether there are options for how we can approach these splits, these differences, and these issues that divide us.

I am opening MillersTime, in the Comment section, to any thoughts, views, feelings, insights, ideas that readers might have about this issue and these questions.

As usual, I ask that any comments be respectful, and I am also willing to have any comments posted with just a first name, initials, your full name, anonymously, or however you might feel most comfortable.

Most of all I am asking that you respond and join in a conversation that hopefully will be useful and productive.

Consider checking back to this particular post over the next few weeks to see what others may have written, thought, suggested.

And thanks, in advance, to all who take the time to comment.

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