SOU In The Sandbox

Just before I picked up my 5-year old son at kindergarten, and took him to a play group at the park, I received some excerpts from the President’s State of the Union speech tonight.

A group of parents sat around while our kids played. I pulled the excerpts out of my pocket. The parents are younger and older, liberal and conservative, of varying educations, races and religions. I read the excerpts out loud.

The one that resonated the most among this diverse group was:

“…our greatness is not measured in power or luxuries, but by who we are and how we treat one another. So we strive to be a compassionate, decent, hopeful society.”

I asked, why? All agreed that’s what they feel about America, and what they try to teach their children.

I asked, don’t Democrats say much the same? All said they were tired of hearing constant negativity from leading Democrats.

I asked, aren’t some of the criticisms valid? All said, yes, but unbalanced or excessive.

None know my politics, so I kept the questions neutral. And, the answers may have been purposely neutral, as we all want to get along with each other.

And, that’s the point that came through to me: harping divisiveness is not what Americans want.