the politics of life

I am officially sick of politics. Luckily most of the drama will be over shortly…well, for now. I read a lot about the issues and different people’s opinions, and frankly I’m frustrated. I hate the judgments. I hate the generalizations. I hate that people turn against one another.

Everyone has their own reasons to support whomever they want to support. Some are more openly passionate than others, but that in no way means someone makes a decision lightly, uneducated, or without much thought. Granted, yes there are some people who may do this but ultimately something, somewhere, at some point in their life has shaped what their decision is. Whether that decision changes based on circumstances, whether they are open to re-evaluating…well that’s their decision and criticizing, name calling, and any type of demeaning them and their decision is low and unnecessary. Make your own decisions, support it when you can, answer questions, and be open to nonjudgmental, educational and civilized types of conversation and discussion. If someone cannot accept that others don’t completely agree with him or her, how can they not be described as egotistical, closed-minded, or even prehistoric?

Cultivating new ideas is how we improve and how advancement in our society comes. I’m not saying new ideas are always the best thing, but if we don’t learn to think outside the box and encourage exploration of thought, we would never get anywhere. Don’t disrespect ideas. In my life I’ve found that the best educational opportunities are those where you can sit down and try to understand a different point of view and likewise help someone else try to understand yours. Whether for religion, politics, or even relationships, both sides will likely come out better. You don’t have to agree with each other, but I think respect is essential.

I’m frustrated that people will automatically make assumptions about someone’s decision without recognizing that that person has probably personally weighed the pros and cons and decided based on the things they personally deem most important. Maybe I’m stretching here, but I don’t think its unreasonable in the political world to assume people recognize that things might not be 100 percent perfect, or that a candidate might not have 100 percent of the “perfect” political history and beliefs. Even when people share the same beliefs and values, they may rank importance and evaluate outcomes differently. We live in an imperfect world—take it or leave it.

In the LDS context, oh how sick I am of people saying you can’t be a good member of the church if you support this candidate or that candidate. How sick I am of the degrading comments that someone “knows nothing about anything,” that the young people are jumping on a trendy bandwagon they will later regret, that one decision will ultimately lead to 4 years of doom and destruction.

Make a decision for the right reasons for you personally. Respect that others may agree or disagree.