The Other

So I was having a conversation with a colleague the other day about, of all things, politics.  Yes, I know the subject should be verboten but we dared to venture into a realm that has become even more dangerous now than in past decades. Which brings me to my point. Even though we are on opposite sides of the fence (or the aisle if we put it in terms of our government), my colleague and I were able to have a civil conversation and even found some common ground.  Neither of us shouted or made disparaging comments about the other's parentage. We didn't try to sabotage each other at work or blame each other for the state of the state or our nation.  So why can't our chosen representatives do the same? Many of them have been together longer than my colleague and I have been. They go to work and sometimes sit elbow to elbow with other members of congress that are on a different "team".  Why can't they talk to each other and leave the rhetoric for hate radio/television?  I know this probably sounds naïve.  I prefer to label it (if I have to use a label) as humility.  We could all use more leaders and representatives who are humble.  What is it going to take for our nation to come together again?  When I was a little girl, I was terrified by and yet loved the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.  That robot, Gort, and his death ray sent me cowering under a blanket, only to peek out when my older sister said I could look again. Michael Rennie's alien character, Klaatu, was as soothing as Gort was scary. Klaatu was the voice of reason, backed up by his "convincer" -- a death-bringing, zero-tolerance-for- violence robot. Still I knew, even at my early age, it was out of the ordinary for all the people of our planet to come together like they did in the movie for Klaatu's "presentation".  It took a display of his planet's power -- to stop the Earth in it's tracks -- for people to take notice.  It also took a common "foe".  Something that made all of us "we" and the other "them". Maybe instead of aliens with the power to destroy us as "them" we could start thinking of our common problems that can destroy us as "them". Poverty, disease, depletion of our planet's resources, hate, bigotry, hunger.  You get the idea. Or maybe we could start working on that robot......