…so I’m talking to these guys when the husband goes and gets the car. Since I was sitting 12 inches away from them I heard every single word they said. I overheard them say that someone in their group was a pilot. He was getting a ribbing for using a straight edge to put the letters on his sign, you know, pilots are persnickety about details like that.
I asked if one of them was a pilot and as it turns out two of them were. One flew a news helicopter and the other flew a police helicopter…yes he was a policeman. He said that this was the first time that he was on the other end of a protest. The third guy was an insurance agent…he was the one who was teasing the other two.
They started to tell me all kinds of flying stories and well…I’m married to a pilot. Flying stories don’t fascinate me – yawn. After all, the husband comes home with a few every time. Last weekend he was struck by lightning – again. What I was more interested in was what they were doing there. What brought them there? It was their first protest, why would they come? Why would they take a day off of work and come downtown in the pouring cold rain, holding a sign of protest (nicely aligned at that). Why?
They also tell me they were accosted by someone before they got to the restaurant. “Who?” I say. The insurance agent answered “Some a..- ” and he caught himself before he finished. He was going to swear and he didn’t. He refrained himself. Why? (I’m a pretty curious type) Because I was a woman and a stranger and he was trying to be polite. Which brings me to the point of this post.
Our political discourse has reached the point of poison. No one can debate anything objectively, it always seems to degrade to personal attacks and insults. A prime example is the President’s press secretary. His arrogance drips with every defensive position and acrid comment about the opposition. I know how it feels when someone you support is attacked. I know because we all lived it with President Bush’s presidency. Every time someone called President Bush a liar, a murderer, dumb and stupid something inside of me would shrivel and scream and my little imaginary hands would go over my little imaginary ears. I believed that President Bush was a good man, an honorable man, doing the best he could for the country he loved. I found myself simmering with anger with the insults. I fear I may be the only one the country who feels this way, but I’m okay with that. So I’m not going to do that to President Obama. Don’t mistake this for support of his policies. If I supported them I wouldn’t be protesting out in the rain.
So that brings me back to the insurance agent. He was making his position known but he was being polite. He was speaking with me face to face. The internet offers so much anonymity that people feel they can say whatever they want without recrimination. And when there is, they wonder why. We should know that what we say and how we say it is more of a reflection on us than on “them”. Choose our words wisely whether we are speaking face to face or whether we are on the internet – blog, twitter, facebook – whatever.
They wanted to talk about flying and I kept bringing the conversation around to politics.
“We need to worry that once we monetize our currency inflation will occur.”
“Our national debt doubled in the last two months.”
“We say that past policies didn’t work but we continue to follow them.”
“Middle class families can’t afford another tax hike (hence the sign). Make the tax cuts permanent.”
“China owns us.”
Their discussion was earnest and respectful. An example to how we should all be in our political discourse.
First time protestors and gentlemen. I’m glad there are still some gentlemen around.
