Man encourages having patience, reacting with kindness in political talks with family, friends

This just happened: A relative sent an email out to about a dozen of us family members. It was an article by columnist Tom McLaughlin of Lovell, Maine, entitled: “Democrats’ War on Cops”. It outlined emotionally charged events we’ve been living with and he blamed it all on Democrats, Obama and Hillary Clinton.

I immediately wanted to respond, and with anger. Then I told myself not to respond with anger. I decided to simply express my disappointment in his sending this stuff. I sat down and started typing out an email, but it did not feel good to me. I stopped, put on my shorts and new Foot Joy’s and walked three miles on the high school track.

While walking, my ‘inner voice’ said: “Bob, you talk a lot about love, forgiveness and non-judgment; how about practicing it?” This got my attention. I thought there must be a deeper message in all this that I could share with the family. The message began to form. Here is what I sent out to the family when I got back to my computer.

“Thank you, for opening up a dialogue on all this by sharing Tom McLaughlin’s column. It represents well the very divisive thinking and behavior which needs healing in America today. In our ‘growing up’ environment, one thing Mother tried to teach and demonstrate over and over was the power of love over fear and anger. As I watch and listen to our present 24/7 political campaign rhetoric and behavior, this lesson hits me in the face every day. Tom McLaughlin’s message, and many others, ramp up our tendencies to cast blame on others, react with anger and fear, and generally keep our mind-sets in ways which divide us rather than seeking meaningful ways to solve our many problems. There must be a better way.”

I suppose I’ll keep on writing because I enjoy writing. And I’ll try to keep trying to learn and practice that ‘better way’.

- Bob McClellan, Polson