My Country: Love it or Leave It
So I posted on Facebook my latest lament about the election. Before I knew it my old college room mate was telling my best friend from high school to pack up and leave the country. Trouble ensued.
It took all of my hard earned 70 year old discipline not to launch myself in the middle of their fight, but instead I pulled back and wondered at my own violent internal reaction as well as my friends over this election. What does this all mean that we take this election so personally? It is like we have all become super sports fan and our team either won or lost and the other team is now talking trash about us. What is it about this election that has so unified each side around their beliefs and against the beliefs of the other side? On the left the stakes seem perilously high. On the right, a path of salvation of good jobs and respect are seen to run through only Trump.
This emotional turmoil of the election reminded me of when I was young and everyone was protesting and the adults said in response to our turmoil, “This is my country, love it or leave it.” (And for you younger people, that slogan was before the program “Love it or List it”). Like what was that supposed to mean really? If you don’t agree with me just leave the country? This talk of leaving the country because our political party lost doesn’t seem to make much sense as a threat or as a plan. I remember is my past life at high tech companies, employees would come in and want to “throw their badge on the table” as a form of protest for whatever policy they objected to. I would say, I don’t want you to quit. That’s the easy thing. You must stay and fight and make it better. What has happened to the idea of the loyal opposition?
Easy for me to say because as luck would have it, I have left the country, but not for political reasons. I left the country because I fell in love with another country, another way of life. I live in Umbria, in the middle of Italy. There are many things I love about Italy, and there are many things I love about the U.S. I don’t see the need to leave one in order to love the other. Perhaps this is a more European idea that one can have multiple, national identities. I hold both Italian and American citizenship. The U.S. is the country of my birth. I loved it and left it. Italy is my adopted country. I love it and I stay.
In both worlds, as in relationships, it is easier to play “oh what a dirty rat” the other person is and walk away. No one learns anything that way, but we are compensated by a sense of righteousness, which always feels good. I know it may be too soon for some of us to try to listen to opposing views. I would hope when the time comes, that we can hold on to our integrity and listen respectfully to the other person.
