From Melinda Wenner Moyer- I do get to practice this empathy daily because I encounter so many Trump voters in my orbit- my husband, my mother-in-law, my former co-teacher, many of my church acquaintances are all Trump supporters.

When my daughter has asked about the election (she’s 5 but she knows her daddy and I are disagreeing about more than just Taylor Swift- my little Swiftie does know Daddy doesn’t like Taylor Swift but doesn’t know that it is a Republican thing), I have told her that mommy and daddy don’t agree about who the best person to run the country is, but no matter what happens we love her and we love each other, and we will do everything we can to do what is best for her.

Because I have explained how that works to my daughter that gives me a chance to practice empathy and although I haven’t said it this way to her I have said to myself- I know that he is a good person, a loving person who loves me and his daughter and his family. For some reason he thinks that by supporting Trump he is making the decision that will be best for our family, and he thinks that it will help us be in a better financial position. He is not doing this because he is hateful, he is doing it because he doesn’t know any better- he has surrounded himself with too many likeminded individuals so that he can’t see the truth.

With that level of empathy I can feel annoyed with him but not demonize him, and I wish that more people were capable of practicing that empathy on both sides because demonizing the other side is making this election so much more stressful than usual!