Beech Tree News Network

I’m not a big fan of reality TV, although I do like “Naked and Afraid,” and that new show, “Tough As Nails.”  I think the reason I’m not a reality TV fan is because the naming of the genre is a misnomer.  Drama TV or Staged TV would be more appropriate titles.  When Garey and I watch TV, he flips through the channels, searching for something we both can watch.  If he lands on a reality TV show, I always say, “Anything but that.”

This Pandemic year has been particularly hard on persons like myself, because thanks to news media and social media, we have all been living in one larger-than-life reality TV show, a he said/she said, we said/they said lollapalooza event to match and over-shadow all such events.  The world around me feels staged, and I want my real life back.  You know, the life where I can talk to my friends about how many tomato plants I’m going to put out this year or how I want to put my granddaughter on a horse or share a new banana bread recipe, trivial things that make up a normal life, but currently seem too trivial to talk about.  

Last week, I stopped by Aggie’s (Garey’s mom) on my way to house sit for Nikki & Thomas.  I spent the night with her.  Garey’s sister, Charlotte, brought over a pasta dish for us to share so we could all visit.  In times past, we would talk about work or our kids or some home improvement project she was involved in.  Not anymore.  Now, it’s all about Trump, Biden, taxes and gun control.  

In my defense, I try not to comment during these conversations, because I don’t want to cause a rift in our families.  I just sit and listen as Charlotte talks about how the government is tracking our phones, and how the Democrats are going to take our guns.  I interrupt only to ask for someone to pass the salt.  Full disclosure, I am a registered Democrat.  I grew up in Spencer County, Kentucky, where my parents were registered as Democrats, so when I turned 18, I followed suit.  With that said, I have voted for both Democrat and Republican candidates, as well as a few Independents—albeit, Kanye West was not one.

On the way back from house sitting for Nikki and Thomas, I stopped by Aggie’s, and once again Charlotte brought over dinner for us all to share.  It was on that visit that I broke my vow to keep my mouth shut during political conversations with the family.  It happened while Aggie was watching Fox News and Charlotte was busying herself with something outside.  Aggie was watching a show called “Waters’ World,” and the topic was Democrats obsession with Trump Supporters.  (The show aired on February 27, and you can find it online if you want to watch it for yourself.)  The host addressed his television audience with this statement: “Democrats hate you simply because you are Trump supporters.”  That statement pushed me over the edge.

“I disagree,” I said.  “I’m a Democrat and you’re a Trump supporter, and I don’t hate you.  As a matter of fact, I have friends on both sides of the aisle and we don’t hate each other.”

Aggie smiled. “We all have the right to support whoever we want, don’t we,” she said.

“Yes, we do,” I said.

When did we lose that, that tolerance of others’ ideas?  It was long before the Pandemic Year.  The social and political climate of my country feels very different from that of just a few years ago.  There is a heightened sense of alarm, a whole sector of people up in arms, waiting for Paul Revere to ride into town to warn them the enemy is coming and it’s time to fight.

It’s not that a climate of division hasn’t existed before in our country.  It did during the Viet Nam War.  I was young, but I remember.  We didn’t have online media, but we had air waves and radio waves and newsprint.  The images of that division were plastered everywhere.  The sounds of that division came across our TVs and our radios in broadcasts and protest songs.  I was inclined to believe what Walt Kelly wrote at that time, “We have met the enemy, and they are us.”  It seems to still ring true, and I hate that for all of us.

I want my country back.  I want my people back.  I want my family and friends back.  I want my life back.  Will someone please change the channel.