black and blue over red and blue

Well folks, it's been a week since the election. In case you hadn't heard--Kerry lost. And so far the world hasn't ended. And given the rather dire and serious things going on in Iraq, Sudan, and other places around the globe-- I'll take that as a good sign that somehow, someway we will make it through another four years of George W. Bush and Company. That said...

In the week since the election, I have heard a lot of rather negative and sweeping generalizations about voters in the red states by people in the blue states. And vice versa. I plead guilty to doing it myself. But I hate stereotypes. I really loathe them. So the big lesson of this week is to keep perspective, and not resort to divisive sterotypes and labels.

As I look at that electoral map, it's easy to assume that everyone living in that sea of red agrees with the conservative, evangelical, Bush ideology. Then I think about my friends back in Salt Lake City. And while they are a blue island in a sea of red, I know that none of them would ever support any type of political agenda that was hurtful to anyone. They are some of the most open-minded, kind people I know. I could say the same about friends living in Idaho, Wyoming, Texas, and Tennessee. The point being that we (the blue state voters) shouldn't make snap judgements about the voters in red states. And vice versa!

While the electoral map showed California as blue as a blue state can be, what it failed to show is that my county was a red island in that sea of blue. And it didn't reflect that my friend in Boston was a red speck deep in the blue heart of Massachusetts. He is a 9/11 survior, Harvard liberal who, despite being a life-long, card carrying Democrat, felt the need to vote for Bush. He called his vote for a Republican in Massachusetts 'pissing in the wind', but the point is that he voted and by doing so contributed to the national conversation.

A fellow blogger recently posted: 'Simply put, to try to make it seem like we are so different that we become an elite group, a force or better than anyone else. It's bullshit.. we are all the same.' I agree. Everyone in blue states, red states, blue cities, red cities basically want the same things: Security, love, freedom, and opportunity.

In many ways, liberals, conservatives and moderates have common goals--we just bring different life experiences and perspectives to the table. And while we may manifest our ideas and goals in different ways, one thing is clear: we will never be able to move the discussion forward or towards a mutual point of understanding if we retreat to our blue and red corners and refuse to discuss anything with each other.

Kerry promised us that 'hope is on the way.' I still believe that it is. We just may have to wait a bit longer than we thought-- but we most definitely will have to work together if we are ever going to make positive changes in this country.