Blue + Red = My Favorite Color

I forget sometimes that not everyone thinks like I do. But living here in a bluish neighborhood in a blue city, in a blue county and a blue state, I can be excused for forgetting.

This morning I got up at an unspeakable hour to go to school for a Volunteer Thank You breakfast. It was a very lovely meal and we were served by our teachers, who frankly, deserved to be at table with us, not pouring coffee. I was sitting with women I know by sight, mostly, some a little better than others. I was next to a woman who I have really come to like. She's just cool. Her husband plays in the swing band that seranaded the '40's dinner. She has a terrific sensibility. It was she who designed the breathtaking transformation of our lowly cafeteria. When we put her in charge of setting up the beer garden for our Karaoke night she literally planted a container garden with beer bottles. She has a deep laugh, a great sense of personal style and my heart just lifts every time I see her. So, in short, it was fun to sit next to her, nibble coissants and talk about things like kids and travel.

Another woman heard us talking about Europe and made some comment about how hated Americans are overseas. Everyone starts chiming in on that theme. I made some comment about how maybe it had something to do with our indiscriminate empire-building. You know, the sort of cracks you make in a blue city. Linda very softly said, "I don't think so. I think we've done everything right". We all make little jokes, riffing on her comment. Then she softly said, "I'm serious".

Suddenly, we're at a crossroads, one we've all encounted. It could get ugly. But I really like Linda. She's abundantly cool. She has, from what I've observed, cool kids. So we start talking. And pretty early into she says something about how surprising this is because usually in conversation "liberals" get all hysterical and start yelling. Which of course, is usually my experience with "conservatives". So everyone at the table is now talking about the limitations of labels. (I think of my liberal Texan friend who carrys a gun or the vast number of Catholics who understand that the doctrine of life, at least as it is taught by The Church, is not a pick and choose buffet: "Yes, I'll have a big plate of anti-abortion, hold the abolition of the death penalty and the just war, please"). Good Lord, there we were talking about the "A" word without a single person raising her voice.

The time was wearing on. Teachers had to get to class, some of us had a Parent Club meeting. It was time to start our day. But I will long treasure in my heart the time that people with differing viewpoints actually just talked to each other, calmly stating their positions, listening to the nuances of the others. I've got mostly blue politics in a blue place and that's way easier than being blue in a red place or, as is Linda's case, red in a blue place. (She has to put her yard signs on her roof so no one will take them). But mostly I'm just really glad to have had that experience because it's proof that it can be done. And do you know, not once did Linda blame anything on Bill Clinton.