MOOOving past the hate

Time for confession. I have had, let's see...how should I term it...ill will, spite, enmity--as I search my Word thesaurus for just the right word, ummm--loathing? disgust?, OH, there it is--EXTREME DISLIKE! Nah, that's two words.

No sense in trying to sugar coat it, all these words are just a slightly more civil--and wrath-of- God avoiding--way of saying HATRED. I've had it there for Mr. Bush, for the Republicans since the time of Newt, and even for supposed Democrats who follow the path that roused my consternation.

That path: acts that I consider totally against the public interest--which they are sworn to serve--and instead for their own or their benefactors' special interests. George Bush has taken this to new lows by "marketing" said decisions with totally deceptive names like "Clean Air Act" or the "Healthy Forest initiative". Such lies epitomize the totality of the Bush Administration and, yes, make me mad as heck.

To be fair, my hatred is for their actions, not them personally. My GOP friends ask whether I would feel the same if a Democrat acted similarly. No problem--YES! Just like when they voted for every Bush tax cut, or voted to go to war. It's true that both sides engage in corrupt acts, but to my mind the Republicans have done far more over the last 10 years. Perhaps Enron is a good example: 75% of their donations went to the GOP, 25% to the Dems.

But the point of this log is not to try to justify my contempt, but to find a way through it, to help reach a more constructive plateau. To that end I have discovered three techniques:

1) I stop and think that maybe, just maybe, they think their decisions ARE in the best interest of the citizens, which undoubtedly some of them are, the ones that are BI-PARTISAN in nature, issues like Welfare reform;

2) I remember that my GOP friends and I share much love and laughs, so how can something like politics disrupt that;

3) I know that people of any party, if a complete stranger was in need they would do anything to help them in an emergency and wouldn't wonder for a second what party they were in.

Such are the bonds of commonality we share--and that we must fight to restore. In my mind that starts with hate radio and the purveyors of dis: dis-information, dis-gust, dis-temper, dis-tress: Rush, Boartz, O'Reilly. We should petition stations to take them off!

Then we need to affirmatively change the dialogue by looking for chances to bend over backwards in accommodating "the other." Now, we're doing just the opposite by not even admitting obvious merit for an opponent's position or fault with our own.

There is no doubt that we CAN get back to harmony and unity. We need but take the first bold steps to truth, to fairness and, dare I say it... to LOVE.

Hoof on!


Richard F. Dawahare