“I hate people” was the message I read on a stranger’s shirt as we pulled up to a restaurant in Idaho this summer. I wonder if he knew putting on that shirt that day,  that it would result in my child not wanting to get out of the car. However, as I stared at this guy proudly sporting this offensive shirt, he was laughing with this family, loading their car, and seemed generally happy. So my confusion lies in the purpose behind the message of the shirt. Granted I know nothing about this man but I’m assuming that you can’t fall in love if you truly hate people, you wouldn’t be in public waving at neighbors passing by, you wouldn’t be smiling and existing in a family dynamic if you hate people. I just wanted to say to him, “no, sir, no you don’t.” 

The correlation between that juxtaposition and our current political climate has stuck with me ever since that day. The labels and sides we boast about proudly are not made by us, we choose to embrace them because we feel like we have no choice but to choose sides. That division makes us forget that the person on the “other side” is someone’s daughter, someone’s favorite teacher, someone’s parent, someone’s grandma. 

I feel because of this toxic political environment we’ve been forced to forget that. And while I will continue to do my part to vote for the person I believe will lead in a way that will unite us, fight for those who are oppressed, and work to give everyone the right to freedom, health, and success, I have to remind myself that we can’t operate out of hate. 

The feeling you get when a stranger smiles at you while passing by on the street, or when someone pays for your coffee, there’s power in that. So let’s operate from there first. Let’s vote, let’s fight for what’s right, but let’s not forget that we don’t actually hate each other.