Death and Politics

My aunt was taking her daily walk one evening a couple weeks ago when a distracted driver ran into her in San Francisco.  She was small and passed away the next morning.  I’m sad that my auntie is gone but I can’t say that I’m angry at the driver anymore.  He was picking up his two kids, ages 4 and 10, from school and was heading home.  As my cousin (aunt’s son) said, we know what it’s like to drive with kids in the back... and there was no alcohol or drugs involved... He was just distracted (I don’t know the exact reason) and the upshot is that my aunt is gone.  He will have to live with this the rest of his life, and his kids were witness to it also.

The memorial service was last weekend, and I was working with my other cousin to arrange for flower arrangements from about 35 cousins/spouses.  He’s pretty conservative politically now, but he and I both grew up seeing each other every Sunday at my grandmother’s and we were always together like peas in a pod.  We don’t really talk politics except for one comment he made about “You never know what news you’re gonna wake up to the next morning” and he “doesn’t like Hillary.”  In all other aspects, we seem to be in sync when making decisions as children and as adults.

I have another friend that I worked with for several years in Fairfield.  She and I were also always in sync, joking about us being like Lucy and Ethel and “Get out of my head!”  We also were always in sync work-wise and even somewhat politically.  I remember she did want Hillary to win the primaries back in 2008, but has since become an avid Trump supporter.  It has strained some of our conversations and relationship and I pretty much unfollowed her Facebook posts because there were so many obnoxious memes.  I figured I would just look at her page whenever I was in the mood.  One day I saw that her mom had passed away and it was a fairly recent post.  I messaged with her my condolences and it was as if we had a moment of the “old us” back again.

With my cousin, there hasn’t ever been any animosity between us, but with my friend there definitely is/was.  The deaths of my aunt and her mom have brought a little perspective back into my mind and heart.  No matter what happens with 45, I’m praying that we (citizens on both sides of the aisle) can start to move forward together to fix some of these issues that should matter to all of us - taking care of those in need (homeless, veterans, impoverished), improving our criminal justice system so that people are treated the same despite the color of their skin, that the middle class can grow again (vs shrinking as the wealthy take all the resources), etc.  

It feels as if we’re in a political Civil War again, and it’s taking a toll on us all.  Some GOP are more reasonable like my cousin, some are “all-in Trumpsters” like my friend.  I pray that there will be moderates like myself on both sides of the aisles that can reach across and find peace.