Driving down Mill Plain, I saw disturbing window decals on two vehicles. The first declared “The strongest weapon in the United States is a patriotic American.” The second showed a U.S. flag, and offered “If this flag offends you … I’ll help you pack.”
Reading those slogans knocked me off balance with imagined anger and threat. Based on my beliefs, I’m pretty sure the men driving those vehicles would consider me unpatriotic and undeserving of U.S. citizenship. Probably nothing I could say here would dissuade them of their conviction, so I won’t even try.
As my stomach churned, I realized what I needed wasn’t someone to take my side, sympathizing with me and raging against them, because that just feeds the fury. It was someone to remind me that they are human like me and that we are all in this together, whether they realize that yet or not. And then, someone to help me know how to respond in a way that doesn’t ramp up the divisive rhetoric. We all — me included — must work to become those “someones.”
