When Did We Last Walk a Mile in Someone Else's Shoes

 

I was lucky to be invited by a work colleague of mine to a meet-and-greet with state representatives last month. Both were Republicans representing districts in or adjacent to big cities, one in western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh and one in Northeast Philadelphia. Given how divisive things have become in politics, at a national and state and local level, someone asked during Q&A just what does it look like to work across the aisle to get things done for the state. Both politicians gave answers along the lines of making it a point to physically go to different parts of the state to meet people, for what better way to see and understand concerns at the human level so that they can use their political power to do something about it. 

It's a good answer, but one that is harder to actually than to just say. Hat tip to these two electeds for practicing what they preach, as I know they log a lot of miles, oftentimes away from their loved ones and their own constituents, in order to see firsthand what is happening all throughout the diverse communities that make up the state of Pennsylvania. 

Now, not all of us are elected officials charged with the wellbeing of an entire state. But, to the extent that we are both politically informed and want to make a difference in our generation, I think the same invitation to “walk a mile in my shoes” applies. It is all too common for all of us to lament that things don’t get done, that politics has become so toxic, and that the other side just doesn’t get it. But very few of us get to truly enclave ourselves among those just like us with no need to influence or be influenced by others not like us. 

Of course we may try. Where we live, where we bring our kids to play, and who we hang out with on Saturday night may feel like a comfort zone of others who think like us and share the same complaints and aspirations as we do. But the thing about our modern political system is that there’s no escaping the fact that everything that makes up our lives is influenced by political bodies that consist of people we voted for and people we didn’t vote for. Philadelphia, as blue a city as they come, is within the United States, whose president is the Republican candidate Donald Trump. Rural Pennsylvanians may not have any concentrations of Democrats for miles and miles, but their wellbeing is influenced in part by how well our largely blue metro areas are doing in industry and health care (and those largely blue metro areas, in turn, are depending on the reddest parts of this state for things essential to life, like energy and food). 

But here I’m speaking about relatively complicated things, which not all of us have bandwidth to weigh, like economic development policy and tax mix and immigration reform. More simply, how often have we truly walked a mile in the shoes of those whose political positions are diametrically different than ours? If you are a city mouse, would you not want country mice to see that our urban areas are not cesspools of crime and corruption but rather cathedrals of commerce and culture? If you are a country mouse, would you not want city mice to see what a more rural existence looks like, to better understand what your concerns are and why you hold them? 

I assume I am speaking to a more metro than rural audience, but let’s start with those country mice. When was the last time you spend more than 24 hours in a city, and really walked amongst its streets without getting into a car or holing up in a hotel room? If it's been a while, yet you hold negative opinions of such places informed by media or friends, how is that fair?

Now let me address the city mice. Tell me, when was the last time you hunted or fished or farmed or done any number of activities far from tall buildings and cell towers? Maybe it's been a while? Maybe never? Maybe not only never but "oh god I would never"? If so, how can you possibly claim to know or care about those different from you?

We are the fulfillment of our own worst fears of a divided society and the stalemate that causes in getting important stuff done, because we refuse to go to places different from what we’re used to. Kudos to the two state representatives I met last month. Sure, it’s partly their job to travel the state. But they were the first to say not all of their colleagues on both sides of the aisle share that commitment. Let’s hope more of them, and more of us, are more willing.