Differences

One of the people I am closest to in the whole, wide world is my friend Jackie. We are sisters of the heart- our spouses know this, our children know this, our grandchildren know this. We have been there for each other through the whole gamut of human experiences. There are no words to explain the level of intimacy and love that exists between us.
We will be the two short, fat little old ladies that you see walking down the sidewalk arm in arm to keep each other up. We will be having a discussion that no one on the planet could keep up with because we talk in shorthand. We will probably be yelling and telling each other to turn up the hearing aid a little.
Why am I sharing this? There were two events in the past few days that have greatly disturbed me. One has been the emphasis that Saturday’s shooting events were caused by the political discord in our country. The other was closer to home. My sister has gone back to school. She is working on a counseling degree. In Monday’s class, her professor made the statement that if people do not have the same belief system they can not feel empathy towards each other.
To all who seem to think that we must be the same, think the same or believe the same to have understanding, empathy or respect for one another I say- HORSE PUCKY!!!! My beloved friend and I disagree on politics. We disagree about religion. We disagree about war, homosexuality, abortion and a number of other “hot topics”.
How we are similar is deeper than how we are different. Each of us is a mother, a grandmother, a wife. We love beauty wherever we may find it. Our most common trait is the deep respect that we both have for those who think differently than us. We know that it is possible to love people you don’t agree with.
I want to shout to the world, “People, our differences are what make us great!!” The most attractive flower gardens are mixed gardens- if the world grew only roses, no matter how beautiful, we’d hate the monotony!
Maybe Jackie expressed it better recently. She unloaded some of her frustration at my political party. When she was finished, I laughed and for the 4000th time remarked about how different we are and expressed amazement at our ongoing friendship. Her reply- “But isn’t that what makes America what it is?”
YES IT IS!! When did we lose sight of that? When did we buy into the idea that different is bad? My concern is that there are those fighting so hard for their own right to be different that they are forgetting everyone else’s right to be different, too. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?