I had an interesting conversation with a radio producer from Salt Lake City this week. He’s interested in getting people to talk about the chasm dividing Americans over political ideologies and why we can’t just talk openly about our differences anymore. 
There have always been divisions and divides because that’s just how humans are, always looking for the differences instead of finding what we have in common. But not since the Civil War—or maybe ever—has our nation been so polarized. And if the polarization wasn’t bad enough, we’ve become belligerent—and frequently just plain rude—about whichever side we’re on.
It’s like we’ve adopted perpetual Super Bowl mentality. I’m rooting for this team, you’re rooting for that team, and never the twain shall meet. We may not even like the team we’ve picked, but because we’ve picked them, we’ll go crazy supporting them, right or wrong, win or lose. And anyone who doesn’t support our team is considered the enemy.
Americans aren’t supposed to have “teams.” George Washington warned us against the political party system during his farewell address in 1796.
“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”~George Washington, first president of the United States of America.
I fear his warning has become a reality in our lifetimes.
Bad attitudes are like dead mice, something I’ve been thinking about a lot this week, since we have a dead mouse somewhere under the floor or in the wall in our front room. It stinks. And no matter what you do, you can’t cover up the smell, or completely get rid of it until nature dessicates the corpse.
Bad attitudes, whether it’s a case of victim mentality or holier-than-thou self-righteousness, stink, too. And they permeate our whole lives so that wherever we go, folks get a whiff of that decaying muck in our heads. Fortunately, it’s easier to get rid of those rotten attitudes than it is to get rid of a dead mouse under the floor!
It was a quiet week around here, but things will start picking up again next week as we head into Fourth of July celebrations. With the hot, dry conditions and the two wildfires we’ve already had this month, I hope everyone will make the intelligent decision to curtail their use of personal fireworks and leave the displays to the professionals.
