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Truth to tell, I have some misgivings about writing this column. Well, not so much writing it, as having it read.

At the least, the writing of it is, perhaps, a bit cathartic. Therapeutic, maybe.

Okay. Get on with it, you’re probably thinking. Rightly so.

It is about the toxicity, as it is often referred to, of our current political environment. The poison that seems to exist, emanates from the very top of the office holding political figures all the way down and into the views, perspectives, of the masses.

So, some years ago I challenged myself to really embrace the “pancake theory.” You know, no pancake is so thin it doesn’t have two sides. Embracing that notion, I began watching on television, reading in more than one news source, disparate and differing viewpoints.

Now, that in itself is not particularly laudable, because my main reason for doing so is I need to do this for self-respect. I do it to make me feel better about myself.

Many watch only one television “news” source, which serves of course to reinforce their already ingrained belief system. They don’t want to expose themselves to more than one viewpoint, one way of seeing, processing things. Perhaps such a characteristic is endemic to the human condition. Perhaps.

There is one characteristic that I will not accept. That being the ridiculing, imitating in a negative way, even making fun of physical characteristics of those whom they regard as “ them”, the “ enemy.” Such base behavior is totally unacceptable to me. Some who do this even claim the mantle of Christianity. How dare they!

If you are reading this now, then I did opt to submit it for publication in “Write Again.” Obviously.
This is the point at which I say “Enough, already. Probably too much.”

As a former governor of California once said, “Let us have high hopes, but lower expectations.”

Peace.