I had a moment of self-reflection earlier this year. And because I don’t have any problems at all, and I’m always right, this kind of moment doesn’t happen too often.
I was outside of my daughter swim meet trying to cool off because it was literally 120 degrees inside the pool (Please someone fix that if you’re in charge of indoor pool climate control). Miserable. I started talking to an older gentleman about how the hellish temperatures inside were maybe a better alternative than hell itself. He said “I’d rather be dead then go back inside.” I like this guy, I thought to myself.
We started talking about random things. How many kids and grandkids we each had, current events, politics,and he even used to be a cop, like me. He talked about all the crazy internal things he witnessed as an officer, just like I did when I was one. He talked about going against the grain with his department, just like I did with mine. I asked him if it got political where he used to work and the look in his eyes told me all I needed to hear. I usually don’t talk to people in any type of crowded event. I get too much anxiety. Very much introverted. But we were hitting it off. I was even laughing out loud at him with his comments.
He then told me his name and it stopped me dead in my tracks. “Robert Kirby” He said as I shook his hand. I was wondering if he saw me gulp. He is a columnist for a local newspaper called the SL Tribune. A newspaper that I can’t say I love. I pretty much read it to guess what the devil’s next social chess move is. In fact, I’m not fond of the majority of his particular articles either, like, I don’t think I have gotten through one of them because I need to do breathing exercises after many of them. And no lie, I’ve even thought after reading some of them “If I ever meet this guy in person, I’m going to tell him what I really think about him and his articles!”
But driving home pondering our interaction is where I had my moment.
I remember during our conversation thinking how enjoyable it was just talking to, and agreeing with, a random stranger on the topics we were talking about; family, out-of-control government, old police stories, politics, and even our mutual agreement about the beauty of the home teaching program change (for you non-Mormons it’s kind of a big deal). But if you read how he sometimes writes, I wasn’t supposed to enjoy our conversation. Or being around him. But I did.
The point of my post is that even though we may wildly disagree with each other about certain topics, and the way we are to get to some type of our perfectly perceived utopia of what society is to be like, I believe we are a lot more alike than we think.
We really are all on the same journey together as human beings trying to get to a peaceful destination with the people we love, and most likely with a kid or a grandkid in the exact same swimming pools.
Hopefully tomorrow I can feel the same way I do right now. Kinda humbled. But knowing me, not much will change.
