Treading lightly on politics

The cold weather is not my favorite time for outdoor activity, so I finally decided to join a gym, so that my running/training is not haphazard and also mostly because I would like to lose a few pounds before my trip to visit my family.

I find that I easily gain a few pounds in the winter, I tend to stay indoors and do way more baking than I should, which invariably gets eaten. It is a sad life, but someones got to do it.

You would think joining a gym was easy. You walk in, sign a membership and you  start working out. But alas that was just a dream. First you read the fine print and then listen to someone try to sell you lessons with a personal trainer. Maybe I am just too polite to say no and walk away, so for the most part I feign interest, which makes the other person think I am interested. So now going to the gym has turned into this awkward moment of trying to avoid eye contact before the sales pitch continues.

I realized I like running outdoors. I feel every second ticking away while staring at the screen on the treadmill. I try watching TV, but considering how clumsy I am, it won’t be a surprise if I fall off the treadmill.  So instead I tried to think of the most random stuff.

Music , friendships, family, food, ok food, sounds like a great idea. Never mind lets scratch food off, because it’s making me hungry now.

Considering its election time (how long before its over?) It made me think a little about it. Not about who I would vote for or what their policies are….everyone is the same in my opinion, but about how people generally react during this time.

I have noticed that most people if you were of a different opinion from theirs they consider you ignorant, a fool, stupid etc and it blows my mind. No matter what candidate I would support the person on the other side thinks I am wrong.

Typically I avoid the topic of politics like the plague. There is no winning that discussion, not just winning, not even getting your opinion heard. Some of my friends are liberal (as for me I am neither-I don’t pay enough attention to really support anyone) if I were to say I would not vote for the liberal female candidate who might get nominated, they pretty much tell me I am crazy and that I should not vote if I am voting for someone other than who they think would be the best person to run the country.

I admit I am crazy, but who is not ?

It boggles my mind, as to why my choice is wrong and they are right. However, if I were to talk to a conservative and say I was voting for the liberal, I hear the same thing. Yes, sometimes I am playing devils advocate with both.

My question is, why can’t we all learn to respect the others opinion, have a healthy argument, debate about it, but not be adamant that we are right. Is this what the politicians do to us or is this what we do to ourselves ? I wish I knew the answer. Maybe I will have the answer to this on my next 8 mile run on the dreaded treadmill, also known as the dreadmill.