Common Ground

The man with the white beard and eyeglasses arrived with a delivery. While the merchandise was being unloaded we struck up a conversation.

"I'm 75", he said, "don't know how much longer I can do this. Every day when I wake up I'm expecting it to be my last."

Now I'm 52 and have not yet reached the point of having such despair. He complained about a metal implant and how it had to be replaced and that it was going to cost $65,000. I had no such malady to mention so the subject drifted.

"I was listening to Rush", he said, "and would you believe that 69% of people polled say that they are disappointed in America.". He said this with some disgust, as if disappointment equated hatred. I said that people might be disappointed in this country, but they still loved it. He said, "If people loved America so much they would volunteer and fight for their country, and not protest."

I knew that I had my hands full and thought about what to say next. I told him that Rush was primarily an entertainer and was not to be taken so seriously. "You're a liberal!", he said. I'm an American, I replied. I told him that Rush was a divider and hated liberals. "He doesn't hate liberals", the man said. "he just thinks they're cockeyed and out to hurt America."

I told him that Rush was wrong, that people actually see eye-to-eye on 90% of everything, and that we should be searching for the common ground on issues rather than focusing on what divides us. "I have a daughter in San Francisco", he said, "and I don't even talk to her any more. Nothing she says makes any sense any more."

I thought to myself that this was one of the saddest things I'd heard in a long while. It seemed that his political views had been so tilted to the right that he would disown his own flesh and blood over mere ideology.

"You won't believe what happens out there in San Francisco. A bunch of people had a parade with bicycles and they were all naked! Even the men! All hanging out there for everyone to see!"

I asked him if he thought that this was something unique to San Francisco. He thought about it for a second and replied "Yes."

I told him that in Ohio it was legal for women to go topfree, and that every summer during the Comfest event, they go bare-breasted. "But they are not completely naked", he said.

That's true, I told him. But in San Francisco, are the naked people hurting anyone? It's not a sex thing, is it? "No", he said, "but they are ridiculous."

I asked him if he thought there was something bad about the human body and that we should not expose it under any circumstances. "There's a time and a place for it", he said.

I mentioned that I used to swim nude all the time when I was a kid, both at the Y and in a pond, and nobody ever thought it was anything but perfectly natural and normal.

He said, "In the thirties my whole family would get naked in the hot tub and socialize. We all sat in there together and talked about all sorts of things."

Did you all get along together, I asked. "Sure we did. We were family."

I told him that maybe liberals and conservatives need to turn off the radio and get in the hot tub together naked. He laughed and it was the first time I saw a little twinkle in his eye.

Our business was over. He reached out with his frail hand and I shook it. "Nice talking to you", he said, "I think I learned something today". I smiled and told him that if people make just a small effort to find the common ground, the world would be a better place. He smiled and nodded, and then he drove away.

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