Here's Your Change

Last weekend I went to the grocery store. Let me just say, before I get into the actual point of this whole story, that I really enjoy going to the grocery store. It is a joyous occasion. And I don't know why. There's nothing that spectacular about it - I just really like buying groceries.

Anyway, I found everything I wanted (oh, and needed, I guess) and headed to the check out. As I was handing the check out guy my basket and bags, he noticed the sticker on my bag and read it.

"I will vote?" he said.
I was caught a little off guard. No one had noticed, or at least said anything about it before. I said something along the lines of "oh yeah, a friend gave it to me," before trailing off completely.

"So you're not going to vote?"
"No, I am. Definitely am."
"Oh, ok."

Then came what now seems the inevitable....

"You're not voting for McCain, are you?"

I didn't know exactly what to say. No, I was not, and am not voting for John McCain, but for some reason it felt like a very personal question. Me of little confrontation didn't particularly want to get into a "What's Wrong With America" argument with a person that could easily charge me triple the price for the plums I dearly wanted without me noticing, thank you very much. But I had to answer his question. He was waiting.

"Um, no. I'm not." (cautious chuckle)
"Good. You didn't seem completely crazy, but I thought I'd check."

Hm. As affirming as it is to be told by a complete stranger that you're not quite as crazy as you should be, given family precedent, I didn't particularly like where he was going with this.

I have this crazy idea that people who vote differently than I aren't completely psychotic. I know, he's redacting his crazy statement as I type, but honestly, I don't have a problem with diversity. Stupidity is another matter, and I think we can all agree all political parties have a great deal of that to contend with.

I guess what bothered me most about this whole situation was the fact that he seemed to go from 0 to 60 on the defensive scale and I wasn't even disagreeing with him.

I like discourse. I like intelligent, pluralistic conversations where people can throw out new ideas and thoughts and not get yelled at because they're expressing something different from the "acceptable" course of action. I question my leaders, what they believe and how they act, and there's nothing wrong with saying you like a few things about the guy you're not voting for. We should be able to express our feelings, our doubts, what we know and what we want to learn more about and in turn, be open to the same sentiments from others.

These conversations, unfortunately, are few and far between. Today, for some reason, a difference in opinion is equivalent to being someone's enemy and that, more than a "third term" and more than a $700 billion IOU absolutely scares the hell out of me.

Why? Well, the words "We're" and "Screwed" come to mind...