I try to get away by myself every autumn for a few days to the upper peninsula of Michigan. The fall colors are amazing, the temperature is always perfect for me (I love the fall), and it’s not as busy up there as it is during the summer months. It’s always a great trip. I haven’t been able to make it the last couple of years due to other commitments, etc, but was able to get away for a couple days this year.
I usually head to Copper Harbor, MI, which is approximately 600 miles from my house. I usually leave late one night and drive as far as possible, then get into Copper Harbor around lunchtime the next day. I stay for a couple days, doing some prayer time, reflection, reading, writing, and just staring at Lake Superior. I love it.
This year, I did something a little different.
I have been wanting to drive the whole lakeshore of Michigan for a long time, so I decided to do it this year. I drove approximately 1050 along the lakeshore of the lower peninsula of Michigan (AKA, The Mitten!!) It was such a beautiful trip; I loved the drive.
I wasn’t really looking for anything spiritual or life changing this trip as I would be mostly driving. I just wanted to drive, stop every now and then for a picture, then keep going.
Because only 80-85 miles of my route was interstate driving, I drove through many little towns and cities in our state.
I wasn’t necessarily paying attention to the enormous number of yard signs for the upcoming presidential election until I got to the top of the thumb in Michigan. I then realized I saw hundreds and hundreds of yards signs on day one of my trip.
On day two, I was driving along the north shore of the lower peninsula. Again, there were hundreds of yard signs. I started taking note of more details.
I noticed:
· in some cities, Trump signs outnumbered Biden signs 10:1
· in some cities, Biden signs outnumbered Trump signs 10:1
· in some cities, the number of signs were pretty equal
· sometimes, next door neighbors had different signs
· I passed many $1,000,000 houses overlooking the lake and I saw both Biden and Trump signs in those yards
· I also passed by older, smaller houses and I noticed that wasn’t a factor either as both Trump and Biden signs were represented on these lawns as well
· I saw small signs, huge signs, and billboards representing both candidates
· I passed vacation homes, farmhouses, middle class neighbor hoods, and the signs had to have been 1:1
Big deal, right, Michigan is a battle ground state for a reason, it’s gonna be a tight race. It makes sense that both candidates seem to be equally represented in our towns and cities.
Then it hit me.
There has been so much “ugly” between people this last decade. I know there has always been ugliness, but these last 10 years! MAN! We seem to fight over anything and everything that is thrown our way, and this election cycle seems to be the ugliest WE have ever been.
I have seen so many of my friends attack each other personally (verbally) because of a candidate choice, stance on an issue, or general opinion. These are old friends, with so much in common and now, there is much animosity between them.
Let’s go back to the yard signs. Without knowing a single person on my drive, here are some things I can surmise about them. They decided to live where they live because they like Michigan, have a job here, like the lakeshore, maybe they like the 4 seasons we have in Michigan, have similar opinions in housing, maybe their family has always lived in Michigan. Maybe not all of these reasons, but some of these opinions are shared with everyone that put out a yard sign.
We have something in common with everyone.
I stopped for lunch in Leland, MI. It’s a vacation spot in NW Michigan’s lower peninsula. It’s such a neat town. It was pretty busy as people were enjoying the fall colors of the Lake Michigan shoreline and the 55 degree and sunny weather was perfect.
I ordered a sandwich from a local joint and was told it would be 45-60 minutes before it was ready, so I decided to do some investigating. Many people were sitting around also waiting on food, so I started conversations with about 10 different people. None of them were wearing Trump or Biden shirts, so I didn’t know their political affiliation.
I just started conversations with small talk looking for common ground:
What do you like about northern Michigan?
Why did you stop in Leland?
Why are you up here on a Tuesday in the autumn?
Why this sandwich shoppe?
From there the conversations went different ways but were all positive because we stayed on common ground. I never went political so I have no idea whether Trump or Biden would have won this election.
I know, big deal. Focus on the positive!
That’s actually not my point. Stay with me.
I wonder how many friendships have been damaged or even worse, how many are no longer friends because of the ugliness of this time in our history.
Should we discuss our differences? Absolutely. I just wonder where civility has gone. Today, many negative charges are made against a person just because they support a particular candidate. You are created in God’s image and so is the person that disagrees with you. There is tremendous value in that person.
One thing that was so cool driving on the north shore was seeing two houses both facing Lake Huron, in the same neighborhood, enjoying the same view, with different signs in their yard. We can look at the same situation, the same group of people, the same policy and have totally different opinions of them. If this can be remembered when discussing issues, we seek to understand as to what the person sees and why their view may be different.
I know, some of issues we are facing are way bigger than looking at a lake, but you see my point.
Do you start new relationships by looking for common ground or go straight to the differences?
Have you forgotten your common ground with those you already have relationships with because they may not be voting the same way as you?
What worries me is what will this ugliness look like on November 4? How do we heal these relationships that have been damaged? What do we say to the person or friend that we have demonized during this election cycle?
We desire that our country be strong. We want good jobs, health insurance, solid infrastructure, and security in our homes. We want equality for all people and those that commit crimes to pay their debt to society providing the victims justice for their loss and hurts.
Guess what? Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, liberals, conservatives, centrists – all want this stuff, we may all just differ on how to get there.
Let’s treat each other with civility for the rest of this election cycle and beyond. It seems there are philosophies and movements that seek to divide the majority of us. If we keep remembering that we have different upbringings, worldviews, and perceptions, yet desire a lot of the same general things, we can extinguish those negative philosophies.
We give others the power to divide us, we can also take it back, this is something we can control.
On October 6, 1774, John Wesley said, and it rings so wise today,
“I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them
1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy
2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and
3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”
I pray that this election cycle ends peacefully, and the winner is respected and accepted by us all and that he truly leads America how a president is supposed to lead America. Whoever is in office in January, let’s love each other because Christ loved us!
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