My mother is a political junkie of the Democratic sort. During this election season she talked of little else; she could spend all day watching “her guys” like Chris Matthews and other left-leaning talking heads. The presidential debates were 12-hour marathons for her as she stayed up all night, switching stations, seeing what Fox was saying, checking out CNN, and then back again to her beloved MSNBC. On the day of the election itself, she voted early and then settled in for the day to watch her guy win.
While I will never hit her level of enthusiasm for the political process, I love chatting with her, hearing who said what and who wore what, seeing the parties and issues and candidates through her eyes, mostly because she is so passionate about them, with the kind of devotion and fanaticism others have for sports, for wine, or civil war reenactments. I still remember one day a few years ago when she said to me, “I just cannot understand why everyone doesn’t agree with me about (insert party, issue, candidate) — it’s so clear, so simple, so right. What I don’t get is that they feel just as strongly about their (insert party, issue, candidate), who I know is wrong. How can that be?”
Yes, indeed. How can two people see the same facts and interpret them so differently, in politics, on school boards, in neighborhoods or in families?
I was reminded of this phenomenon in another way recently when Monsterstorm Sandy hit the east coast. We had made arrangements to meet some friends for lunch in Christiana, half way between where we live in West Chester and where they live in Middletown, Del. on Sunday, the day the storm was meant to hit. We left the house early, planning to make several stops on the way to the noon meeting, never really giving the storm much thought, not thinking to check phones and e-mail before we hit the road.
When we arrived at the slated Tavern at noon, we waited for our friends, and waited, and finally, about 12:45 p.m.figured out they might not be coming. Turns out they had gotten up, thought about the storm, had misgivings, e-mailed to see if we wanted to cancel, and then, getting no response, started leaving messages on our cell phones — which we hadn’t thought to check.
The e-mail message went something like this: “I know your Pennsylvania governor declared a state of emergency which means stay off the roads if at all possible. In Delaware, evacuation of coastal areas is under way with a limited state of emergency, so perhaps it would be better to wait for a more pleasant day….”
Never thought of it. Faced with the same set of facts, some of us pooh-poohed warnings and aggressively went about life as usual; while others took note, stepped back, and cancelled all activities. Even in areas where the storm hit the hardest, like Long Beach Island and areas of New York, some people followed the rules and evacuated while others choose to interpret the facts differently, disregard even mandatory proclamations and stay the course.
Same facts, same warnings, yet very different interpretations. Throw in sex, religion and the aforementioned politics and the gap gets wider and wider. Left, right, male, female, savers, spenders, leaders, followers, those who always obey the rules vs. those who see the detour sign and immediately think “that doesn’t mean ME” – interesting, isn’t it, how we humans can look at the same facts and come to such different conclusions?
* Lee Miller welcomes responses. Please email them to leemiller229@gmail.com
About Lee Miller
Lee Miller began her writing career with four books about Pennsylvania/east coast wines and the creation of Wine East magazine. She then went on to found the Chaddsford Winery with her husband Eric, where she turned her pen to promotion, advertising, public relations and marketing of their successful business venture for 30 years. Last year Lee co-wrote the new wine book, “The Vintner’s Apprentice” with Eric, and retired from the Chaddsford Winery to pursue other interests. She is currently working on a book about her life in the wine industry and exploring the retirement life. Her goal in writing a column for Chadds Ford Live is to generate dialogue and elicit reader response.
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