I swear, from what I’ve seen on the news, somebody needs to do something to tone down the vicious nastiness at some of those “town hall” meetings being held about health care. A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor rented one of those pressure washers you can get to clean stuff. He was hosing down his house in preparation for painting it.
Some of the town hall meetings I’ve seen lead me to think legislators need to have people manned with such devices, or fire hoses, or something, to settle down the crowds.
Regardless of political leanings, the issue here isn’t agreement or disagreement, truth or fiction. The issue at many of these meetings is common civility. I’ll admit there are times when I get so heated over a political issue that I verbally howl and flail around here on the blog. VERBALLY, as in writing. But I’d be the first to insist, if you and I met face-to-face, that we treat each other with a sense of respect and dignity.
That seems to be lacking in many of those town hall meetings. Perhaps it’s a sign that we all need to take a couple of steps back and think long and hard, rather than just shouting and waving our arms in the air.
Taking some deep breathes, I step back.