You are the same as me
we are not enemies
Here in Ontario we just lived through two back-to-back elections. Politics are front and centre these days. Many things in life are so critically important that a lot of us are paying more attention to politics than we did ten years ago. However, I think that we are being led to believe politics are more existentially important, more central to our personal identities, than is actually true.
We live in a moment when some would have us believe that Liberal voters and Conservative voters hate each other. We live in a system that wants us to see each other as the enemy, because it is easiest to win votes through anger, and because people divided against one another are more easily manipulated. We are being pitted against our neighbours like pawns in someone else’s chess game, and I don’t believe any of it is true.
I live in Northumberland County, a beautiful, warm, rural community full of farmers and artists, teachers and continental shift workers, to name a few. We have a lot of young families and many, many retirees. We are a varied and geographically spread out community, and by and large this is an incredible place to live. People here are generous and helpful. People here are hardworking and down to earth. People here are fiercely proud of this place we call home.
And we are currently a Conservative riding, both provincially and federally.
If you’ve been around here for a while or know me in person you likely know I am not a Conservative voter. However, during this election cycle I realized that, among the many people I know in this riding, friends and family alike, more than half vote Conservative.
This used to bother me a lot. I couldn’t wrap my head around people seeing the same things I saw and coming to an entirely different conclusion. I used to try to get others to see things my way, to encourage change in the direction I wanted through persuasion. Besides maturing out of thinking my opinion is always the right one - oh boy - I also no longer think getting folks on board with my views is the solution.
I’m now more concerned with the rift - real or manufactured - between the supposed left and right. There is a growing animosity between folks who vote left versus right, and people on all parts of the political spectrum participate in it. I’m sure there is an evolutionary reason why we try to determine who is “us” and who is “them,” but when you share a country it is problematic to put anyone in the “them” category. In the case of Canadian politics, it’s reaching a level of fervour I find very troubling.
Besides the fact that this semblance of division makes us ripe for the picking for leaders who have no one’s best interest at heart, I also see no evidence of its truth in my life.
We ordinary citizens are not each other’s adversaries. We are not (mostly) stupid or selfish or evil or heartless. We are all different, yes, and that difference is what makes a society rich and strong and vibrant.
I do not and likely will never vote Conservative. And yet, many of the Conservative voters in my life are people I could turn to for help in my most desperate moments. Many of them have been there through all the major milestones in my life and are woven into the tapestry of my fondest memories. Some of them have been indescribably generous to me for no reason at all except their belief it was the right thing to do. Many of them are the hardest working people I know. Some of them have come to me in their darkest, most vulnerable times and I’ve been honoured to help them through.
They are not my enemy, no matter what name they put an X beside on the ballot. I hope they don’t view me as their enemy either. They are my family, my friends, my neighbours. They are good people. As are the folks I know who vote Liberal, NDP and Green. We are not in battle with one another. We are a community and we can hold different beliefs and opposing opinions and still hear each other out, respect one another, and love one another.
xo
Shannon
Upcoming Shows
July 16 from 3-6pm - Come find me making music at the Cobourg Public Library Book and Bake Sale. Then buy some goodies to support our local library!
July 19 - I am hosting a Campfire Songcircle at Westben. It’s a free event prior to Matt Andersen’s show. For details and to RSVP click here.
Featured Song - It All Depends
A snippet of my newest song, recorded at Port Hope’s Sustainability Expo just over a week ago. This is a song that calls for a group sing-along ending if ever there was one.
You are the same as me
We are not enemies
We’re more alike than it seems
Come sit here beside me
It wasn’t always this way
We weren’t always afraid
But something got in our way
Let’s not be manipulated
Cause we could be friends
It all depends
On where we go from here