Advice You Didn't Ask For: How to Leave Anger Out Of Difficult Conversations
"And there we were talking about abortion in the middle of a Mexican restaurant."
My friends and I got together this past Sunday at a local Mexican restaurant. The chips and guac were plentiful and everyone was happy. We were talking as friends do, one topic leads to the other, and there we were talking about abortion in the middle of a Mexican restaurant.
It was immediately clear that our group was composed of opposing viewpoints and opinions. In today's political climate, everyone's immediate instinct was to become uncomfortable in the presence of those that disagree with you, those that see the topic differently. After a few moments of awkward silence, we started to talk. Each of us shared our opinions and why we see it that way, some chose to sit and listen. And it was okay. It was the first time since the 2016 Presidential election that I was comfortable sharing my views with someone that I knew disagreed with me. We talked about science. We talked about the Bible. We talked about family members and friends that have personal ties to abortion and solutions to legislation regarding it. And it was okay.
We left this conversation as if it never happened, nobody was angry and nobody felt different about one another. After hearing everyone's opinions and understanding them, we moved on. And again, it was okay.
This kind of conversation is one we need to have more often, conversations to understand each other. The far left meets with the far right, and we talk. Really talk. Talk about family, about how political views directly affect family members, about political leaders and how their decisions make you feel about being at home in the United States.
Growing up, we never went to bed angry. I learned early on that if something has upset you, you talk about it. You apologize if you've hurt someone's feelings and you listen to the other side of the story. You understand each other. I remember being five years old and fighting with my brothers. My mom would sit us on the bottom of the stairs and we couldn't get up until the issue was resolved. We never went to bed angry. This country is our home, and we should never go to bed angry.
