I'm the Political Black Sheep of My Family - Thank God!

Just recently, I sat chatting with my grandmother and the subject of Charlottesville and then the presidency came up. We initially agreed that this entire country has gone crazy, but as the discussion turned to Donald Trump, our ability to agree ended – rather abruptly and painfully.

As I listened to my grandmother begin by defending Donald Trump and then transition into the “Yeah, well Obama…bad, bad, bad, blah, blah, blah” I could have thrown up all over her. And this wonderful woman, this intelligent, loving, kind, woman that I have loved and respected all my life, one of the best women I’ve ever known…she turned into someone I didn’t recognize and I was beside myself.

I am the political black sheep of my family – there’s no doubt about that. I am the lone liberal raised in a family – grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins – of conservative Republicans. I have sat patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) as my elders have smiled and “oh, tee-he-he” giggled to themselves and assured themselves, the room, God – I don’t know who – that I would someday grow out of my oh, so simplistic and juvenile ideals. I believe I’ve been quite successful in keeping my mouth shut as they so blatantly belittled my beliefs, all the while challenging them to a battle of facts and to comparing IQs in my head…which was imperceptibly consumed by a raging, albeit invisible, fire.

I know where they have gone wrong and it comes down to something simple and extraordinarily frustrating to me – their chosen source of news. Namely, Fox News. Now I’m not saying that Fox News is singularly responsible for their ridiculously narrow-minded and outrageously inaccurate views – they were, most definitely, predisposed to conservative nonsense – but it is largely responsible for the falsities they share like facts.

But that leaves me neither here, nor there and I’m certain that I’m duct-taped to a future of political disgust when it comes to my family. I often fantasize about pulling out the facts and debating my grandmother into the ground, but I’m fairly certain that it would not make me feel better and would more likely make me feel like a jerk. So, I just smile, tune out their ramblings and rest easy in the knowledge that my political opinions are based on open-minded inquiry, a clear analysis of the facts and a strong, personal belief in the beauty of the Constitution, all culminating in an intelligent, well-reasoned and carefully considered conclusion.

As for the possibility that I will grow out of my ideals – I feel confident that my ideals have, indeed, grown – I have grown well past the point where many minds have stopped and for that, I am eternally grateful. As for my grandmother – I still love her fiercely and more importantly, I forgive her (and the rest of my family) for being so easily misled and misinformed. Maybe mostly because you don’t get to choose your family, but still.