A car near our former home in North Carolina wore the license plate DKUNC82. My mind leapt to:
A student at Duke University meets a University of North Carolina student. Their schools lie 11 miles apart, but basketball has driven fans of each far into mutual hatred as they brandish menacing March Madness tournament brackets. Yet the lovers marry. They celebrate their union in a vanity plate.
The UNC-Duke rivalry – like Alabama-Louisiana State and others – is intense but mostly harmless.
Alas, unlike many of our other conflicts.
Democrats and Republicans.
Conservatives and progressives.
Believers and atheists.
City dwellers and rural folk.
Good or bad.
Unworthy or worthy.
Yes, some ideas and acts are evil. They must be named and challenged.
Yet evil is the smaller portion of all that we disagree about. Disagreement, by itself, is not evidence of evil. Nor justification to maim or kill. Nor cause to hate or spit or shout.
We share this space and time. They are gifts given but once. Once. So, like the DKUNC82 couple, may we treasure them – and each other.
BEKIND20.
Hope springs eternal, Jeff–and I’m in! Cheers!
I know, I’m tilting at windmills. Trying to stay positive!