This mail list is for history, genealogy, and family contacts -- not for
political opinions, so I hope there will not be follow up messages about
political opinions. But I think the comments I'm about to make fit into
a framework of how to treat each other within this extended family and
how to deal with the real differences in political and religious beliefs
within the many living descendants of Joseph and Mary Harper Campbell,
and our friends and relatives who come to our reunions and share our
mail list. This is being written while wearing my Campbell Reunion
Association Secretary hat. (And hopefully there will soon be some news
about where and when the next reunion will take place.)
Friday I was at a bank. A teller greeted a customer at the next window
with a "How are you?" and he replied "I could be a lot worse." With
the
TV images of Katrina victims still on my mind, I chimed in with "I
guess we're all pretty lucky compared to the folks in Louisiana." I
was horrified when he responded "Well, one good thing about it is that
maybe for a little while we won't have to listen to liberals whining
about the poor people at Guantanamo." I was speechless (which may have
been a good thing). How could someone so trivialize all the deaths,
devastated lives and suffering? And as usual, afterwards I had lots of
ideas about what I could or should have said. One of the responses I
would like to have given is "What I think makes our country great, is
not our differences, but what we have in common. And how in time of
crisis we can all pitch in, pull together, and help each other."
Perhaps he was too lost in a "my way or the highway" view of life to
have heard me, or perhaps I would have gotten a punch in the nose for
challenging him.
I think of the Red State/Blue State conflict as being greatly
exaggeration by TV executives who would like to have 24-hr a day Jerry
Springer type sleazy confrontations to boost ratings. The infotainment
industry prefers confrontation over information (or trivia such as
runaway brides). The way political primaries now work, candidates in
both parties often can't get nominated by appealing to the center, they
need the support of those at the ends of the spectrum. However, polls
by Gallup and similar organizations show that most folks now, as always,
are in the center, and have much, much more in common than their points
of disagreements. Much of the time, according to polls, the majority of
citizens don't like either of the candidate the major parties present to
them. When there is so much divisive, polarizing rhetoric on TV, talk
radio, and even in our legislatures, it's inevitable that some people
will have their personality and world view shaped by that. So I
shouldn't be surprised at encountering a "poster child" for that kind of
polarization.
I know this list has many caring and generous people. The Campbell
Correspondence letters are full of descriptions of the family as not
having "shirkers", of "doing their duty", and being generous to those
in
need. So I'm sure that most will give money to charities for Katrina
relief, some may take in refugees, or even give jobs to the victims.
So far, this mail list has been free of the incivilities that have
plagued some other RootsWeb mail lists in times of stress, so there's
no reason to expect future problems on that front. But the "Campbells
of Nelson Clan" now has hundreds of members having wide ranging opinions
on politics and religion. Therefore, I hope at reunions and in person
to person correspondence, we can all "agree to disagree". Part of what
makes the country great is that each of us has a right to our own
opinions and beliefs. What a dull place it would be if we all agreed
about everything. But I hope we can all be respectful to each other,
even when we don't agree. It's easy if you live in a very "blue" or
very "red" area to take it for granted that everyone agrees with you.
Sometimes that leads to forwarding e-mails that resonate with you, but
may seem offensive to the receiver. It needn't compromise our own
beliefs to be considerate of others' feelings.
Even in the first days in Tioga Co. there was not unanimity of
viewpoint. The Campbells and Hazletts were Scotch Presbyterians; the
Blackwells were Baptist; the Luggs and Clinches may have been Anglican.
Ever since the founding of the Republican party, a majority of the
family seem to have been Republicans. But always some were Democrats.
Unitarian Charlie Congdon, was a leader in Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive
Party campaigns and I suspect there were a number of Grangers, when that
was a political movement. Nowdays, in Tioga Co., some of the family
support the Green Party.
So diversity of opinion within the family is not new. And these days we
can afford to be more tolerant than brothers-in-law Joseph Campbell and
John Hazlett were when they withdrew from the Beechers Island
Presbyterian Church to protest Steadman Bottum playing the violin at a
service. They only came back after several years and a promise that
Psalm singing would be the only music allowed. How horrified they would
be that the church later got an organ and that one of Sam Hazlett's
desc. was the organist. By the way, does anyone know what happened to
that organ? I received a query about that.
Back to the present. Let's be secure enough about our individual
beliefs so that we don't feel a need to put down a cousin who sees
things differently -- or to take it for granted that all "good" people
will see things the same way we do. Let's always do our best to be kind
and considerate to each other and to be as supportive as we can to those
in pain or in need, both family and strangers.