Metta meditation for * and his voters? She is a saint.

So she saw people at an airport watching the inauguration with "rapt joy," and consciously repressed her disgust and decided to be happy that those folks were experiencing joy. And then she felt better. Okay. But that's not a response that can possibly be appropriate in all encounters with the "other side." There are plenty of racists who would feel joy witnessing police brutality against people of color. There are anti-abortion activists who felt joy when Dr. George Tiller was murdered. Every time we send bombs flying, lots of onlookers cheer without even a thought of the innocent civilians who might have been killed along with the enemy combatants. And the most telling example is, as always, the Nazis-- turning faces shining with joy toward a man who would slaughter millions.

Maybe most of the Trump supporters we personally encounter will be fundamentally decent people, perhaps mistaken according to our own reasoning, but worth listening to and engaging. I definitely have some of those people in my life, and Ms. Newton's recommendation to listen and dialogue with them is good advice. But that doesn't mean their pro-Trump views have inherent value--that somehow they know the "real" Trump, and that man is fit to be President. My sympathy for their view is only going to extend as far as my respect for their right to make their own decisions about their own beliefs; it's not going to make me view beliefs I find repugnant with any more tolerance.

Hey #2, I'm totally on the same page as you as far as what you express here. There was a fair bit edited out of the written answers I gave them (understandable due to space limits)—and one of those edited bits is that we can recognize the other side’s humanity, maintain an openness to them, and engage with them as fellow humans trying to find their way, while standing firm against those beliefs and actions that we find reprehensible. The reason I found myself in the work referenced here is that I witnessed an upsurging—especially after the election, but also still present today—of rhetoric on our side of the aisle that, while railing against the dehumanizing tactics of the right, was and is rather dehumanizing in and of itself. Choosing to use techniques to keep myself open and engaged with the other side, instead of shutting down due to assumptions about people I’ve never talked to, people whose opinions are filtered by media that decides how to portray that voting bloc to me, only helps me to be better able to engage with them when the opportunity arises and hopefully create some connections where the light can get in.

Hi Kellie, thanks for your clarifying comments responding to my post. I appreciate your approach to these issues, as I discovered I have a couple pro-Trump friends. Before this, politics didn't come up much, and post election when it did come up I let the conversation get much too heated. Probably for me the most helpful thing you said in the original article was that this process caused you to confront your own arrogance; I realized I have to work to not turn into a liberal version of my ultra-right wing father, someone who never listens and always thinks he's right. Even when you DO think you're right, humility is a good quality to have.