From enemies. To true friends.

I’m promoting good relations. Even with people we don’t like. Because we probably don’t like ‘em for the wrong reasons.  Possibly, because we are stupid. Or blind. We never got to know ‘em. Happens all the time.  We form judgments. And opinions. With little factual basis.  Never digging beneath the surface. Shallow. Shallow. Shallow. That’s what we tend to be. We don’t take the time. To become acquainted. Our government officials. They are as guilty as the rest of us. Especially in foreign policy. Think of all the years of the Cold War. It was unnecessary. If only we had tried better to truly understand each other. And have recognized that communists and socialists are good people. Merely with different perspectives. Different ideologies. That shouldn’t keep us from working together. And actually liking each other. But then, we Americans are a strange lot.  We distrust each other. In the political realm. Often, we end up hating fellow Americans. When really, we should be practicing love. I was brought up with the odd credo – love thine enemy.  I’m often able to do that. I had ‘enemies’ that became friends. True friends. Amazing, isn’t it? –Jim Broede