Nobody is out to get you

Quickly think of a villain from a childhood movie.  Got one?  Good.  Now try to sympathize with him or her.

Most likely you can't.  This is because children's movies try to keep things simple.  The good guys may have one or two flaws, but those turn into lessons for the audience.  The bad guys are pretty much that...bad. They kill their henchmen without blinking, they are rude, they are arrogant.   All in all, no body cries when the villain loses. 

They're all good at heart...right?

Do you ever wonder if this idea of a "bad guy" has stained our adult minds.  I have no doubt.  Just look at a few political posts on Facebook:

(Actual examples have been removed out of respect for privacy on FB.  Below are a rough idea.)

*They're all out to take away my (1st, 2nd, 3rd...etc) amendment rights!
*They just want to make it so only they can have (jobs, power, status)!
*Can you believe them?! This law is obviously targeting (me, my social class, race, religion)!


Do you see the common factor here?  Each person believes that the other side is the epitome of evil.  Each Democrat views Republicans as greedy business men who want to strip them of any personal freedoms.  Each Republican views Democrats as self-centered hippies bent on killing babies and wasting government money.


This may be a wake up call, but the "other side" is not a Disney villain.


Each person is doing what they think is best in life.  People who push for government funded programs are not being self centered; they often are hoping to help others.  People who are pro-life are not trying to restrict women to gender roles or trap them, they are concerned about the life of a child.  I'm not saying there are not a few bad eggs in every group but, give me (most) any of the popular political movements, and I bet I could give you a good intention behind it.

This is true for any rival groups: the young and the old, religious followings, the North and the South....the Sharks and the Jets.

One day, we'll solve all arguments with dance-fighting!

If we remember that, we may actually accomplish something in this cut-throat political game.  We're all just humans, trying to do what we think is best. This is not a fairy tale; it's much better than that.