I just published a new article on Medium.com. It begins:
“I attended undergraduate school in the late sixties and early seventies when the hippie movement was at its peak. As a conscientious student, I didn’t have time for anything other than my studies. However, today I long for those peace and love ideals.
“Realistically speaking, what is peace and love anyway? Isn’t it far more than non-violence and free love? Doesn’t it include more than being respectful, compassionate, polite, and dignified toward all people, not just the ones you agree with?”…
Read more:
“What Ever Happened to ‘Peace and Love’?”
© Michael Mamas. All rights reserved.
So beautiful. Thank you for articulating this so clearly. My children and I have been having a similar conversation since the events and rhetoric of the election. It seems like a great time to talk about respectful and compassionate disagreement. I have been proud of the way they have tried to listen to their classmates with opposing views and look forward to sharing this article with them.
You need to read the whole article! To me this snippet epitomizes what it has come to between the two parties. “Isn’t it tragic that we write one politician or group of people off as totally horrible and bad, while considering our own group benevolent and perfect? Isn’t that the epitome of polarization and disharmony?”