"These letters are an antidote to the prevailing idea that the time for polite conversation has come and gone. True, not everyone can afford to facilitate dialogue across the ideological divide, any more than firefighters can routinely engage in convivial, round table discussion next to a house on fire. We need activists on the front lines, putting out fires and fighting for policy change that should have been enacted yesterday. But even front-line activists need reminders that vitriolic hatred tends to bring all forward momentum to a screeching halt and that we don’t have time for that which bogs us down."
ABOUT THE LETTERS
MAY, 2023
Dear Friends,
Contained herewith is a collection of letters from me, Sara - a liberal, left-leaning woman - to a conservative, right-leaning one.
I consider them to be love letters.
Who is this conservative friend to whom I write? Though I do have one woman in mind as I write, this “friend,” ultimately, is a composite of several conservative women I know or have known. Importantly, for the purposes of this exercise, this friend is my ideological opposite in every way. When I insist that Black Lives Matter, for instance, this friend would be quick to point out that Blue ones do. If I am pro-choice, Friend is pro-life. If I do not believe the election was stolen, Friend suspects it might have been … and so on.
My purpose in writing these letters is not to open the lines of communication, as it were. That would be impossible, given that these letters are a one-way street. Rather, my goal is to humanize women on both sides of the divide inasmuch as I can; to look beyond the signs and slogans each of them might hold at a protest, for instance, and to refuse to settle for stereotypes dished up by politicians or pundits and then reinforced by social media. I hope these letters might remind us that we are, none of us, one-dimensional villains.
Finally, these letters are an antidote to the prevailing idea that the time for polite conversation has come and gone. True, not everyone can afford to facilitate dialogue across the ideological divide, any more than firefighters can routinely engage in convivial, round table discussion next to a house on fire. We need activists on the front lines, putting out fires and fighting for policy change that should have been enacted yesterday. But even front-line activists need reminders that vitriolic hatred tends to bring all forward momentum to a screeching halt and that we don’t have time for that which bogs us down.
And not for nothing; it remains true that there is no more powerful force for change than love. We would do well to remember that, even now.
Especially now.
Love,
Sara
HOW TO READ THE LETTERS
It might be helpful to start with letters ONE and TWO to get a lay of the land. Once you've done that, feel free to read the letters that interest you in any order. If one letter refers back to another, I'll do my best to link them.
I'm knee deep in my STILL/WILD project just now, but I still have lots of letters I hope to write, so stay tuned; more are on the way. And as always sorry in advance for any/all typos, (There will likely be lots.)
Enjoy. And feel free to WRITE BACK!