On February 4
th
I issued the 8 Weeks to Optimum Tolerance ‘New News’ challenge. Half way through, I confess that it is harder than I expected, listening to more diverse perspectives than I usually do.
Thus far, I’ve watched Bill O’Reilly lament the “Epidemic of Disrespect” in America while calling people I care deeply about, our nation’s public school teachers, “Pinheads.” I tried to find something to love about O’Reilly.
I paid close attention to the Republican’s response to the State of the Union address, ripping off my blinders instead of shutting down (with envy) when I heard Marco Rubio had paid off his $100,000 in student loans debts in the short time he’d been in Congress.
Instead of trying to get my head around why 22 male Senators voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, I reminded myself that these leaders (one of whom I worked for in the past), had been charged with carrying their party’s message. They may indeed be decent human beings. And, I celebrated when the House passed the Senate’s version of VAWA that expanded services to immigrant, Native, and LGBTQ women, also requiring that universities report on campus rapes.
I even sought to find common ground between my two Missouri Senators’ starkly differing Paycheck Fairness Act views (their emails in response to my urging them to vote for the bill). Using the four intolerance taming practices didn’t do me much good in that instance – even with a tolerance tweezers – I couldn’t find room for compromise between their views.
Last week, I lost complete patience with President Obama and the U.S. Congress when they continued squabbling. They failed to avoid the sequester cuts which will have a real impact on Main Street America. I found myself adding a curt “I expect you to do your jobs” sentence in an email to my Senators just prior to cuts going into effect on March 1.
In a phone conversation with KC in Washington, a Main Street Women book interviewee, she said “If they were in business, they’d be fired. We should fire them all.” I tend to agree. My tolerance for hearing that Washington, DC is broken has fled – unfortunately, the federal government is not a business so immediate firing isn’t an option.
At the same time, I really took to heart a London colleague’s feedback on my “Down on Main Street: U.S. Women Poorer and Getting Ready for More With Sequestration” blog post. Afi Ofori wrote:
“I know this information is comparing it to the standards of living in the US alone however coming from Africa and knowing what I know and seeing poverty first hand, what is being described in the article isn’t poverty. Poverty is watching a mother watch her children die and there is zero she can do about it all because she can’t afford just a few crumbs of bread for her child.”
We had an incredible, and respect-filled, exchange where I got to share that over 16 million U.S. children are homeless, 1 in 4 children (according to the brilliant new documentary, A Place At the Table) don’t know where their next meal is coming from. I shared with Afi my view that America’s social programs are the only things standing between many of our nation’s children and the African poverty she’d seen. (Huge hugs going out to Afi for making me dig deeper and broaden my perspectives.)
Yesterday, I looked for a little ‘news’ inspiration. Terry O’Neill, the president of the National Organization for Women, was here in St. Louis. As part of the 100
th
Anniversary of International Women’s Day, the Women’s Law Caucus at Washington University’s School of Law invited Ms. O’Neill to speak.
Since its founding in 1966, the National Organization for Women’s (NOW) goal has been to take action to bring about equality for all women. It is the largest organization of feminist activists in the U.S. with 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. ( http://www.now.org/ )
Ms. O’Neill’s lecture was entitled “Rhetoric vs. Reality: The Latest Stealth Tactics in the War on Women.” From a decidedly national point of view, O’Neill’s optimism that democracy works – NOW “scores” members of Congress and decides who to support with money and advocacy – didn’t necessarily mirror my own. Main Street women like me sense that when the governed don’t live anything like the governing in terms of wealth, power, influence and lifelong Cadillac health care coverage, there’s something democratically amiss.
As I walked back to my car, I spoke with another woman who had also attended the lecture. “Inspiring,” was her first comment, “disconnected from how women here live” was her conclusion.
How about you? Accessing any ‘new news’ sources?
Is your tolerance growing? Any intolerance taming practices to share?
With just a few more weeks to go in the ‘new news’ challenge, I’d love to hear from you.
