I was at Starbucks last Saturday and stumbled into a Coffee Party meeting. I asked if I could join in the conversation and that opened an interesting discussion. Now I find the idea of a grassroots movement to recalim civility and effective government compelling. How do you answer someone who asks you why you hate America? Who come up with that one? I could only respond as reasonably as I could, “Probably for the same reasons as you.” That would be the unexpected response. Stating a thing does not make it true. You can say I hate America I can say you hate America. That accomplishes nothing but is the strategy is to create impasse, it is effective. I suspect that I am in a fool’s paradise here. I expect a rational response. A more probable reaction is strident voices would be to become even more strident. I do like the idea of printed messages of civility and invitation to talk. We cannot shout down those who gather to shout us down. Actually, no one has tried to shout me down. I have seen media images of that behavior but I have not yet seen it on the streets of Casper. I hope the Coffee Party movement can focus on civility. It is hard to be mad at someone who is trying to listen to you.

Do we see ourselves as a compassionate people? How do compassionate people act? There is something about the two coat rule in the bible. If you have two coats and your neighbor has none, then give him one of yours. How hard is that? From the Book of Matthew, 3:11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. So, do you have two coats?