The Water Cooler – Have You Lost A Friend Or Relative Due To Your Political Beliefs?

Oh yeah been there done that before

Nope. Both friends and relatives are thoughtful and tend to look to facts and history when forming opinions. And the ones who aren’t interested in politics tend to express their wish for a quick healing of our country’s divisions, More than once we’ve agreed to disagree. Some argue both sides of issues. My cousin offers up prayers. I guess we’re a pretty boring bunch because during the holidays, nothing can stop us from sitting at the table, enjoying talking about anything, and sharing Thanksgiving turkey and fixin’s, Christmas ham, etc.

No friend or relative of mine would be that shallow.

No, I had a close platonic friend here in Concord, he died 5 years ago. We both love history, especially WWll, movies and sixties Rock and Roll, we did not agree on politics for the most part, although liberal, I’ m a strong supporter of Israel. He was very conservative, but an open minded conservative he listened to NPR and liked the Magazine The Economist, due to it’s international coverage. We did discuss politics and it would get pretty heated, and when I was about my wits end he would say “Hanna, it’s just politics, our friendship is more important. I still miss him.
Another friend of mine from way back to the sixties, he use to be fairly liberal, but now is totally MAGA. He lives in Florida, so we mostly communicate by email, although we do talk on the phone once in awhile, but I feel a distance between us, which is kind of sad, because we were close friend for years. When I was getting divorced he came to visit me to make sure I was alright. When we had the earthquake in 89, he called me as soon as he could get through to make sure I was Ok. My Danish girlfriend in New York, we have agreed to not talk about certain subjects, we have been friends since 69 when I as living in NYC. She is liberal, but she has positions that makes no sense to me. She is totally on the Palestinian’s side, want right of return for them, I can’t make her understand it would be the end of Israel. She says she hates war but can’t see her way to condemn Putin for his invasion of Ukraine. Her positions makes no sense, she is very well read, graduate from a New York University with honors and have a high IQ, but don’t seem to see the contradictions in her position. She also did not believe Assad was a dictator! So we talk, Denmark, food, our children, getting older, but stay clear of politics, except for some minor issues, mostly locals. Because she is very intelligent she can come off as arrogant if you disagree with her, so I don’t bring up anything too controversial. I know she does not like Trump, nor does she like the Democrats, although she did like Sanders not sure if she still does.

I don’t talk politics with family or friends. I’m old school and try to follow the golden rule. Don’t discuss politics, religion or money in polite company. If others want to discuss it, that’s fine. It’s a free country. It’s just not me. I err on the side of healthy, lifelong relationships. So far, it’s working out very well.