Morning Facebook post

Thanks for a healthy discussion on the illuminating article I posted below about the viewpoint of Trump voters. The main thing I realized reading the article and your comments is there's a massive disconnect, a void, between different communities among the 320M+ citizens spread across the vastness of the USA.

Perspective taking is the key to understanding strangers different from oneself. In my daily life I interface very little with the world of Trump voters. I find it easy to care about, for example, black, Muslim, LGBT, and native American communities in the US with whom I don't interface much because I view them as underdogs striving against entrenched powers. I empathize with veterans, active duty military and law enforcement officers, people doing difficult jobs that someone has to do for modest pay and no influence over the policies they implement.

Perhaps I need to take the same compassionate view of Trump supporters, most of whom, ironically, are ethnically similar to me. It’s OK to be frustrated by their thinking but hating them doesn’t go anywhere good.

Now it’s on to another big day of packing plastic bins. Don't worry, though, I'll check in.