Yes, these days are tense. Looking at the county-maps of the US it feels like there are little Blue boats floating on a massive sea of angry Red. But those vessels are dense and contain great power. As I study the maps and contemplate our differences I correlate our country’s divisive mindsets to our (generally) literal physical distance from each other.
In our Covid-binging we’ve reached Season 10 of The Amazing Race where self-proclaimed “hillbillies” from Kentucky, Dave and Mary, are traveling the globe and experiencing, for the first time, not only funny money with different pictures on them, but the Otherness of the other teams. “I really like them!” Mary proclaims, regarding gay couple Tom & Terry. “They’re the first gays I’ve ever met!” To be 31 years old and find “your first gay”? Of course it can be plausibly argued they already know other gay people who feel safer unexposed, but this cloak of sameness in their life-experience dangerously exaggerates their opinions of the Others, whether or not they’ve actually engaged with someone who lives a life unlike their own.
When we’re physically closer we encounter the Other more frequently and on more relatable terms.
You can’t spend a minute in a vibrant city without engaging with multiple peoples in varying skin tones, cultures, religions, gender and sexual identities, etc. Everyone works together in…
