In this time of political polarization, I’m not going to write about the polarization red vs. blue, but purple – that is over eggplant. I am putting forth the theory that there is not a more polarizing vegetable than eggplant. Everybody I know either loves it or can’t stand it. Do you know anybody who is neutral about eggplant?
I didn’t grow up with eggplant. My Italian mother and grandmother lived in a very small town in northern Nevada at an elevation of 7,000 feet, a place where snow could and did fall any month of the year. If you wanted to eat vegetables in those days and that place, you either had to settle for canned or grow them yourself. You need long stretches of hot summer days to grow eggplant. So even though my grandmother was an excellent cook of Italian food, eggplant was not on the menu.
When I was in graduate school at ASU, I learned about eggplant from a friend who grew up in an Italian family in New York. He taught me how to make eggplant parmesan, which is one of my all-time favorite things to make and eat.
I tried to raise my children right. I served them eggplant from the time they were small. But two of them refuse to eat it to this day.
When we gather for Thanksgiving, the divide is clear. We have a number of people who don’t eat meat and a number of people who don’t eat eggplant. Still, we manage by having both on the menu. We don’t argue about eggplant or turkey. We don’t bully each other. We don’t exclude anybody. We all have a place at the table. We have each contributed something to the feast and the experience. We respect each other and we love each other.
I realize, of course, that the political polarization in the United States has far more significant consequences than the opinion on eggplant. According to Catholic Social Teaching the purpose of politics is to promote the Common Good. The Declaration of Independence mentions the Common Good. One would think that the first step toward promoting the Common Good would be for everybody to sit down at the same table and engage in respectful discussion and dialogue about the issues facing our country and our world. If politicians would refrain from name-calling, blaming, lying, demonizing, and treating each other as evil, then problems could be solved.
But today, politics is not about promoting the Common Good. It is about winning. It is about winning at all costs. It is about resorting to any means to win, no matter how dishonest or unjust, no matter how ugly. No matter how dangerous.
Only we can change that.
Really?
We can be careful about what we say and post on social media. Fact-check it first. Make sure it doesn’t belittle anybody. Avoid characterizing any group of people as inferior.
We can be careful about how we even think about people who disagree with us. We can make a decision to love them, even if we do not agree. We can treat them with respect.
We can apologize when we know we are wrong. (The two hardest things to say in English are “Worcestershire sauce” and “I was wrong.”)
And perhaps most importantly, we can let policymakers know that we do not approve of language that intensifies the division, because we are one human family, called by Jesus to love one another. Red, Blue, or Purple.
Jeanette Arnquist is a former Director of the Department of Life, Dignity & Justice for the Diocese of San Bernardino. She is retired and living in Tucson, Arizona where she remains active in social concerns ministries.