It’s Hard to be Friends

I’m talking with friends about Trump
and impeachement
and we don’t agree
and it doesn’t feel like friends,
but I’m going to try harder,
because I think we are friends.

When someone says they don’t agree,
what are your options?

When you’ve laid out your arguements
laid all all you have
and it’s crystal clear to you
and they still don’t agree,
what are your options?

I think this is the question it would be good to answer,
before answering the other questions.
Because I don’t think we agree.
And I don’t think it’s because we don’t have the “facts”.

I think we don’t agree because we feel hurt
and unresolved in our hurt
and our fear of being hurt more.
Who wants to be hurt more?

What are our choices in this, however?
Will we hurt others so as not be hurt more ourselves?
What if these others have never hurt us?
Or more difficult, what if they have?

This seems fundamental to me,
this seems like a foundational principle,
this seems like MLK, Ghandi, Buddha, Jesus,
this seems like non-violence.

This seems like peace.

But we may not be ready for peace.
It seems as if we are not ready for peace
by the way we treat those we disagree with,
and that’s “ok”.

“Ok” in the sense that it’s better to accept it
than to pretend we want peace and justice
so much that we will use force and violence
to achieve it.

Using force and violence and hate and anger
to achieve Peace and Justice is a way worse world
than might is right.

Give me straight up, honest bruttishness
over wolves in sheeps clothing any day.

So I guess, maybe it’s hard to be friends,
maybe that’s the point,
what is it worth to be friends?

Do you believe you can achieve Peace and Justice
through hatred, anger, violence and force?

It’s going to hard to be friends if that’s the case.