Here’s proof that American politics isn’t always Hatfields and McCoys paid civicnation
Charlie and I first met in 2003 as first-year law students at the University of Chicago. We had common purpose in surviving the rigors of Chicago law’s infamous grind . UChicago was then a bastion of the old fashioned law school experience. Professors cold calling, and sometimes, mercilessly drilling students. Whenever a student was selected to conduct a deep dive into a case or a legal theory, we shared a collective empathy for their suffering, mixed with relief at having avoided the same fate.
Spending three years together in tight quarters—law school and Chicago serving as an occasional sub-zero foxhole—allowed us to look past our superficial identities. I learned that Charlie was a gifted harmonica player and literature aficionado. As a journalist for the student newspaper, Charlie’s writing regaled students with allusions to Hemingway and advice for surviving Chicago’s bleak winters, while I wrote sardonic criticisms of George W. Bush.
He wasn’t a political caricature to me. We knew each other deeply, as caring and passionate friends and citizens.We didn’t always agree then and we still don’t always agree today. But when we disagreed, we talked and listened. When the news coming out of DC seems to be going sideways, I call or I text Charlie. Because we have history and took the time to build a relationship with one another, even though at first blush we appeared to be different.
Unfortunately, America’s political discourse is so fraught today that we fail to recognize the humanity and common purpose that unites us all as Americans. On a daily basis, we are directed to focus on all that separates us. Whether via screaming matches on Facebook, Twitter, or cable news, the world is presented as Hatfields vs. McCoys, Montagues vs. Capulets, or Yankees vs. Redsox. But when we strive and engage at a deeper human level, we can be so much more.
It is my hope that more people realize that we are all truly brothers and sisters. And if we spend the time to truly know one another, the slings and arrows of everyday political life will fall away and we can find more ways to see the fullness of who we truly are: one America.
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