We Are More Than the Sum of Our Bumper Stickers

This post has been making the rounds.

I did not stop to help a * supporter today.

I had no idea how deeply my hate for that man ran. My lack of an interaction, with a * supporter is still haunting me a couple of hours later.

I was on my home and was on the ramp getting off the highway. I saw a mini-van on the side of the road. There was a lady standing next to the van and in her arms she held her child. I can only assume her mini-van had broken down. I don't know, perhaps with so many gad stations being out of gas, she had also run out. I slowed down and started to pull over to offer her a ride. At the very last second I noticed a "W" sticker on the back of her vehicle and I sped up and drove off.

I feel really bad as a human being. That child is not responsible for their parent's belief system. They are innocent and do not deserve to be out in the heat. (It is warm but not so bad that they would even break a sweat) I try not to punish people for what they believe.

On the other hand, so many hateful thoughts went through my head. I wondered how a person could see what was going on in NO and still have one of those awful stickers on their car. How could they support an awful excuse for a human being that has let our country down and is letting Americans die after they have made it through the storm? How can someone be so blind and so stupid?

I thought that if she loves * so much, maybe he would come along and help her the same way he is rescuing all of those poor people in the weather stricken part of our country. Let's see what her hero can do for her.

I never did go back. I was so upset with that sticker and with the fact that someone would support an idiot who is so clearly running our country into the ground.

So why am I writing this? It is not to boast, I really feel bad about passing this child and not picking up their mother. Perhaps it is for a catharsis of sorts? That would be an educated guess. I suppose it is because I feel conflicted and I am writing this to try and sort through what I am feeling. There are two emotional sides, for me, on this incident and neither seems completely right or wrong to me. Even writing this, I am still not able to work through what happened. I feel like I am floating between right and wrong and am unable to grab either side.

Thanks for listening.

Of course this woman's honesty has been applauded by some people (notably in her comments boxes) and condemned by others (notably in various conservative venues).

I was fascinated by her honesty and, of course, appalled that we have become so polarized that we would be judged worthy by our bumper stickers. Interestingly "Bush" has become such a dirty word that she could not bring herself to type it out. This makes me think of something that Hannah's history teacher told the class. He said that people who personally hate Bush are a little wacky because they don't know him personally at all and the teacher was pretty sure that Bush didn't know these people. Good point. How often do we identify the policies with the person and transfer that dislike onto someone who (most likely) is doing the best they can? (Worth reflecting on for those of us who weren't too fond of Bill Clinton.)

Looking further into it and reading through the comments, I came across her further thoughts on the subject.

In fact after actually being able to write it out and think it over, I was 100% wrong and would take it all back if I could. In fact my response, to the first person who answered my post, was that I did wrong and that I will be picking up a person no matter who it is next time. That does fall within reason - I may offer to call the police for a male who is stranded.

I am not someone who usually stops to think about something before helping someone. I just talked to my husband about taking in people from NO who needed help. There were no strings attached as to how people voted, etc.... He did feel uncomfortable since we have two small children so we have donated money and I have contacted someone I know, from NO, to offer any assistance we can give to them or their family.

Good for her. That's an important step forward in remembering that if we define ourselves solely by our political parties then we are limiting ourselves into being less than human. We must all remember that we are human beings in this together. As for the people responding who are telling her that she was right in the first place, well, they have such a narrow view of life that I feel nothing but pity for them. Lord have mercy on me for the times I have forgotten the big picture ... and bless them.