Adopting a code of silence

“Always avoid talking about religion and politics in public.” cautioned my mother.?This week I discovered she was right.

I posted on Facebook, what I thought was a simple newspaper article on how wearing masks should be like wearing seat belts and part of our civic responsibility.

Little did I know that I was going to trigger an onslaught of angry comments.??Not wanting to get drawn into a social media fight, I remarked that we could perhaps agree to disagree and show respect.

Eh, no.?The writers were determined to make me see the light, to adopt their point of view, after all there was only “one truth” which of course was their truth.

I closed down the discussion and removed the post.

But it flags for me how angry people are and just how polarized as a country we are.?I find that scary and it makes me question where, as a country, we are heading.?

All of us are fed up with the pandemic, the masks, the lockdowns but frankly what is the alternative if we are to stay safe?

Blaming our political leaders isn’t the answer.?When you look around the world, other countries are doing the same.?We can’t just get rid of the messengers because we don’t like the message.??

I am not sure what the answer is, but a return to civility and treating people with respect, whether you agree with their views or not, would be a good place to start.

There I’ve said my piece.?For now on, I am keeping my political thoughts to myself.

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