Tuesday Tunes

I’ve always liked this song. I think the first time I ever heard it was on the Muppet Show (yeah, I know, I’m dating myself). More than just liking it, I feel like it says so much about today…

There’s a portion of the lyrics that say:

There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Are getting so much resistance from behind

It just resonates. I realize in ’66 it was probably the Left they were talking about, but if you really put your mind to it, the issues of ’66 on the Left are today’s Right leaning issues more often than not.

I’m tired of there being no way to communicate across the great divide. I’m tired of the resistance to facts. I’m tired of the lies. I’m tired of having to police Every Single Thing I read or hear about in a day. It’s just exhausting. I’m sure that’s what it’s supposed to be…

But here’s the thing: I’m not giving up. I might be quiet (because, as I remind myself frequently, I am NOT the idiot-whisperer), but I’m still here. I am not giving in to illustrating “when people are wrong on the internet” (for the most part), because it doesn’t actually fix anything. But I do speak up when it’s important, among my friends and family. I’m not where they are, a lot of the time… but I’m noticing more and more that people are beginning to be more open to talking.

This week at the Fort, I had a long talk with someone whose opinion I value highly. We were not on the same side… but we recognized that our end goal was the same. It led to interesting discussion, which both of us decided was worth looking into. Neither of us changed our opinion, per se, but we heard the other side and granted there was at least a grain of truth that warranted investigation. So it isn’t all bad, folks. It just feels like it is, sometimes.