Stop it with the name calling and #bemypresident

The Capitol the night before the Women's March.

Hi friends. I love you. I support you. I hope you're taking time to be kind to yourselves this awful week. I'm sorry I've taken my space over with political chat lately, but honestly, it's all consuming and the only thing I can think about, so I hope you'll bear with me.

In this incredibly polarized time I really don't like hearing people (on either side) name call. It might feel good to be mean for a second, or witty, or like the smallest form of gotcha payback but it isn't. It's just taking debate down to a schoolyard bully level and entrenching opposition.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think we need to call things what they deserve to be called--don't soften "Nazi" to "Alt right" or "lie" to "alternative facts," but petty name calling doesn't serve your cause and instead alienates people who might be open to hearing your side (is anyone out there still in the gray area?).

Since you're reading my page, I'm guessing that you're on team progressive. So, think about it: when someone calls you a snowflake, how do you feel? Are you open to listening to them or do you feel emboldened to reply with "That's right, jerk, and winter is coming"? When they call you "libtard" do you think, Oh! What a funny play on words! That guy must be smart and witty! Or are you deeply offended by the use of a derogatory term and unwilling to even read past that? Well, the feeling goes both ways. When we say "Drumpf" or "Re-thug-lican" or use any other name-calling on social media we're just inching the two Americas farther apart unnecessarily. And, we're ceding our principles and going down to their level. Remember: When they go low, we go high. I know, I know. Our president started it... he opened the name-calling floodgates and seems to relish petty cruelty. But Americans of all creeds are better than that. We know that kindness, open hearts, and thoughtful minds win in the end. We're certainly bruised and battered but we can't react by licking our wounds with poison, we have to move forward confident in our inclusive message of kindness and equality. 

And on a similar note... My friends and I talked about #notmypresident last week when we were marching in DC. It's patently wrong. He is our president and saying #notmypresident get us nowhere. We saw someone holding a sign that said Be My President and that felt actionable and positive--imploring our president to speak for us and hear us is language that allows for hope (rather than this despair I'm currently feeling). While it feels like the America we believe in is being taken down brick by brick, by using #bemypresident we demand to be heard and to be taken seriously.