Let’s find common ground

I’m a traditional liberal with some conservative values. I think it’s important for people to stand up for their subtle, complicated, and varying points of view. I’m not a huge fan of Gov. Reynolds, but I appreciated her views on mandates. I was born in the Bay Area but can see how left-wing thinking has diminished San Francisco. I can understand conservative ideas about why they don’t agree with Colin Kaepernick kneeling during our national anthem. I can also love what he did because it’s his right to protest something at the forefront of our national debate. I can appreciate police who put their lives on the line every day, and also see the need for change in how we police under privileged neighborhoods.

Cancel culture is the opposite of freedom, liberals! Storming our nation’s capital is abhorrent, conservatives! Trumpidiots! Woke libs! It’s so easy to put our fellow Americans in a box!

Don’t give in to the way we marginalize each other. When we break down the walls of our self-inflicted limitations, we can gain understanding about each other. Look at all perspectives, see both sides, and find ways to communicate.

I know this puts us as Americans on shaky ground. That’s healthy. It opens your view of how and why other people think the way they do. The more understanding we become of people’s different views, the more commonality we see among all of us as Cedar Rapidians, Iowans, and Americans.

Symon Sanborn

Marion