Really excellent piece, touching on so many levels, exactly how I feel. My wife is more the flaming liberal, while I tend to try to empathize with those who don’t share my liberal leanings, trying to understand why they feel as they do. These days, it’s gotten harder to do, but that just means I have to try even harder to do it. It often comes down to the words of the song sung at the end of services at a church we used to go to — Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.

What I see these days is, while the extreme conservative side seems to be going off one deep end of unbelievable backlash and unkindness to anyone who doesn’t look, sound, and act just like them, the extreme liberal side is drowning in its smug finger-pointing and delirious glee of rightness, each lining up in its own enemy camp, ready to do battle with the other.

As I sit here in the middle, guilty of judging both sides for their extremism, so not really much help, either. But, I do keep trying to find that non-judgmental compassion for both sides, and hope that the effort results in being able to find a peaceful way forward, for all. I have no idea what the answer is, though. I just keep trudging forward, and try to keep from burying my head too deep in the sand, as I know that is not the answer, either. We all have to be awake, alert and alive, and do our best to be reasonable, conscious human beings as we sort through each day’s clues.