We must love our neighbors despite political differences
Like you, perhaps, I have learned to appreciate walks.
During my year of profound quarantine, I was grateful for breezes, for good weather, for my neighborhood and my neighbors. A walk moves your body, your mind and your emotions. You forget, however briefly, the thing that weighs you down. The people in my community made room for me on the sidewalk and smiled as we passed. We were, it felt, all in this together.
However, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with what will be seen as a troubling moment in American history. During the pandemic year, it became clear that the Republican Party would not only not stop Donald Trump from election tampering, spreading false information, or inciting violence, they would climb fully on board the Trump train. And some of our neighbors, family members, people we work with, are firmly seated in the caboose.
So, as the world opens up and we celebrate the end of the pandemic, as re-unions abound, other unions have been splintered.
What to do?
The beauty of a neighborhood, of a democracy, is that we are not all the same. Indeed, many of us have long viewed this diversity as a strength. But can we extend our hands in real friendship to people whose ethics are so in opposition to our own? To those who have supported disenfranchising LGBTQ people and inciting hate against people of color? Can we accept without scruples folks who have supported a party bent on undermining free and fair elections? Should we?
In short, if I perceive the politics of neighbors with whom I exchanged Christmas cookies, meals, and even children (temporarily!) as harmful to both democracy and to people in our community, can I still love my neighbor? The answer, I think, is that I must.
While we must stand up for what is right in our country, we must be good neighbors — even and especially to those we disagree with. And we will. I will stop my dog from barking if it is bothering you. You won’t mow your lawn at 8 a.m. on Saturdays. I will help you when a limb falls on your car, feed you if you are hungry, wave at you and wish you well. And we will look out for each other’s children, as we always have.
And so it is that at the end of this very hard time, I feel both deeply grateful and deeply sad. Even as I am grateful for the community I live in, I grieve for the family and friends who seem to me to have supported the unsupportable. And while I (like you) will try to be both good neighbor and good citizen, the gulf between us seems larger and more visible than it was before.
To love thy neighbor as thyself, both on a national stage and closer to home, has never been more important, and has never seemed more challenging. I, for one, will try to make Mister Rogers proud.
In short, if I perceive the politics of neighbors with whom I exchanged Christmas cookies, meals, and even children (temporarily!) as harmful to both democracy and to people in our community, can I still love my neighbor? The answer, I think, is that I must.