If this guy makes you angry - look at yourself

It is really interesting what this election cycle is bringing out in us.

As you, I am appalled at what is happening – I can’t believe that millions of people are voting for a person that is clearly stuck in seventh grade.  I think all of us thought this would pass in time – a novelty that we enjoyed but realized that you can’t really put someone in a position of power who is so clearly unstable.

But we were wrong.

So what is going on?  I am definitely not interested in the politics of it all.  I am more interested in the psychology of it.  Why are so many Americans supportive of someone so divisive?

I don’t think we realize it yet, but the whole Trump phenomenon is a mirror.  It is who we are.  In an uncertain time – a time of instability at home and overseas - we cling to what is familiar. 

In a sentence – Trump is us.

Think about it - how do we describe ourselves?

I just tell it like it is.

Sometimes that is good . . . and sometimes it is not.

We tout as a value how authentic we are by saying:

I really don’t care what you think about me.

Again – sometimes that is good but many times that just leads to being a jerk.

I can’t tell you how many times I have seen the meme that starts with, “I don’t have time for people . . . “  or “life is too short to put up with people who . . .“

·      . . . who don’t respect me or my family

·      . . . for people that hate

·      . . . for people that are never going to change.

Really?  I thought that was life – working with people that are difficult.  Guess what?  Your life has been enriched by people who have put up with jerks like you.  They believed in time you would change and you have.  That is life – bringing each other up – not cutting off.  We too quickly un-friend, shut-out and ignore people that are a pain.  Life is pain.

A friend of mine since high school unfriended me when I sent her a private message that challenged her opinion on an issue.

Talk about building walls.

If you are shocked at what is happening in our culture currently you need to look no further than the climate we have encouraged in which we tell people it is okay to be narrow-minded.

I don’t mean narrow-minded like

“how can you be so narrow-minded that you can’t see there is a God”

“ . . . that you don’t see the effects of global warming?”

“ . . . that you don’t see the impact of Obamacare.”

No. I mean the middle-school approach to life in which we craft snarky sarcastic remarks aimed at those who disagree with us rather than listening to those people that have a different take.  I have personally experienced someone tell me that they believe Republicans hate America.  Hey – maybe they are right – but really, what kind of conversation takes place after a statement like that?

That’s because it is a speech.  In the order of Trump.

The only way we defeat this kind of mindset is to be open to people that have a different perspective and to treat others with respect.  And maybe it starts here on social media.

Because ultimately you reap what you sow.