I recently spent time with a very close friend of ours who we hadn’t seen for a while. It’s getting later in his life, and while he and his spouse both have jobs, it’s fair to surmise that they may always be a bit financially challenged. He is, nonetheless, completely free of bitterness and without rancor. He is warm and open, a gentleman in the best sense of the word, who genuinely wishes the best for all whom he meets. Many of his family and friends are better financially fixed than he and his wife, but he bears no resentment. He leans conservative and supports President Trump, although he disapproves of the President’s behavior.
Although I acknowledge – it’s a Guiding Principle of these pages — that any outlook I express can be completely haywire, I obviously hold my perspectives firmly and generally offer them fairly energetically. That said, during our time with our friend, while I posed questions regarding his positions, I found myself very open to what he was saying — wanting to understand his thoughts — because he does wish the best for all, has no confrontational tone as he explains his views, and accepts that I don’t always agree with a gentle smile.
I suggest that today, we not focus on the excesses of Mr. Trump, or, if you will, Ms. Pelosi. May we as a people find a way to regain our tolerance, our openness, to well-intended views contrary to our own. I concede that it is more difficult in circumstances where there is not the close personal bond I have with our friend. Of this I am confident: whether he or I have the more accurate view of the current state of our national affairs, he is the one much closer to the gates of Heaven than I am; if I do make it through those gates, it will be in part due to his intercessions on my behalf …
Let’s give thanks for all of our family and friends.
McCoy's Noise 