Guest Blog: College Bowl Reflection

“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” - John F. Kennedy

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In his inaugural address in January 1961 former President John F. Kennedy addressed all Americans, calling them into accountability and urging them to serve instead of being served, but deeper than that, he urged them to work together as one unified group to discover what it truly means to be an American. This statement, though at the time not controversial, now begs the question, what did he mean when he said “My fellow Americans”? Did he mean just the Republicans or just the Democrats? No, I would venture that he meant all Americans across all party lines. JFK believed that we are all called to a higher mission. A mission to forgo the idea that the country or the opposite party owes them something, but instead, remember that we have a government of the people and for the people and it is our duty and our privilege to collaborate, not just debate, to make America the best that it possibly can be. Today, this statement of unity is often lost, with nearly three-quarters of all Americans regarding those who belong to the opposing party to have negative traits.¹ This detrimental part of the American reality is being 1combated by a few organizations, one of which is Unify America. Unify America is an organization that goes beyond party lines to connect Americans who disagree and allow them venue to have personal and civil conversations. I recently had the privilege to do the Unify America challenge and I am grateful for the experience that I had.

Unify America Challenge

When I first logged into Unify America I had no idea what to expect. I was being put into an online meeting with a stranger from across the country who I already knew disagreed with me on nearly everything. Needless to say, the idea of Unify America gave me great pause. This being said, when I logged on and spoke with a fellow student named Anna I was pleasantly surprised with what I discovered. Anna was an engineering student in north Ohio. During this hour-long conversation we had, I learned quite a bit about her political ideas and what she believes is best for the world. I was pleased to find that she was very respectful and had many well-formulated opinions, but even better than that, in many cases, we both wanted the same things.

Our conversation began with talking about the weather. Anna was bundled up next to a space heater with a blanket on because in Ohio it was 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Our conversation was often interrupted by the sound of the wind howling outside her dorm room. At the time I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt with the California sun blazing through my window. The differences between us did not stop at the weather and I often found myself disagreeing with much of what Anna was saying. Our first disagreement was a discussion on socialized healthcare. Though we disagreed on the means, both Anna and I agreed that all Americans should have the ability to stay healthy. This trend of respectful conversation continued through even some uncomfortable topics such as abortion. On this topic, Anna and I greatly disagreed but I did my best to be positive and understanding, even when it was clear that my opinion made her uncomfortable. Eventually the question of whether or not colleges should allow free speech quickly developed into whether the First Amendment right to free speech should be protected at all. This is an idea that I am very passionate about and I strongly opposed Anna, yet we remained conversational, and by the end, we understood each other’s points of view much better.

Though our conversation brought up many differences, we did find many similarities. We both agreed that something had to change in government and that polarization was helping no one. Both of these ideas fueled our passion for personal growth and allowed us to further engage in our conversation and work to understand each other and simultaneously the other side of US politics.

I am overall grateful for my Unify America experience because, for one of the first times in my life, I had the opportunity to talk to someone from thousands of miles away about a country that we both love. This conversation gives me hope for the future of America because it is so easy to be divided and though we can communicate with people all around the world, we still must make an effort to befriend those with different opinions. I believe this should be instituted in future classrooms because it gave me real-life experience on how to have a civil conversation with someone I disagree with.