Can our Divisive Electorate Learn Lessons from Inside Neighborhood Restaurants?

Today is the election and wow has the campaign season been brutal!  But fear not - your neighborhood restaurant is open today and will be there for you.  It will welcome you and it will take care of you no matter who wins.  Its doors will be open and your server will not care if you are a Democrat or a Republican.  No one inside will know If you post nasty caricatures of politicians on your Facebook page and incite arguments on social media with your friends—you are still welcome.  Leave the divisiveness at the door however as there is no place for that inside.  Turn off MSNBC and Fox news and come on in.     

There is a civility inside of a restaurant.  It is the town hall of our community.  People celebrate, mourn, conduct business and yes talk politics inside.  Its where we all break bread. People converse here and debate different ideas like different choices on a menu. Its ok---really it is.  They converse.   There is a give and take in a conversation and people listen—or they develop the art of listening.  You rarely see a group dining over prime rib and a great bottle of Cabernet push away mid-debate and storm out of the dining room.  It just doesn’t happen.  We are civil to each other and it is safe here.

In every community we should eat out more and learn many lessons from that restaurant.   In doing so, we would regain the art of civil discourse and proper behavior.  It’s a bird’s eye view into the inner community of a restaurant where a diverse melting pot of employees from all walks of life, circumstances and opinions all work together on a cohesive team.  Restaurateurs and their staff work their asses off day in and day out so you can feel safe, comfortable and welcome—no matter who you voted for. 

So tomorrow (and whomever emerges as the so- called winner) the doors of your local restaurant will open once again as it did the day before to welcome you and your opinions with graciousness. Perhaps we should greet each other tomorrow in the exact same way.