H.O.P.E. Highschooler opposed to political extremism

While in the car today, my family and I passed by a car with a lot of bumper stickers. Of course, quite a few were related to politics and the difference between liberals and conservatives. Many people view this topic as a black and white type of thing. But I think our country needs to start working in the gray side.

Plenty of individuals think of liberalism and conservatism in the blank/white opposite-ends-in-the-spectrum viewpoint. If you have ideas pertaining to one side, you don’t have ideas pertaining to the other.

To be more specific, one common idea is that pro-choice and anti-abortion are opposites. But I disagree; I feel that every women, every couple, every family, should have the option to use abortion or not. But personally, I would never do such a thing to a possible child, even if he/she were to be an “accident.”

But as everyone knows, there is always a gray area to any topic. For example, babies who aren't born in a hospital purposly would be considered hippie or liberal in this time era. However, in relation to history, it doesn’t make sense. Look at Elizabethan, Victorian, hunter-and-gather, almost any time except for the recent past, and what would you find? The recent past and present are a small blip on the timeline of all history too. How could you call these old traditions ‘new age’?

Therefore, for this topic there should be a gray area. If we try to separate ourselves into little boxes of liberal and conservative, what will we accomplish? I think we should let the gray area in to create less of a us versus you society and help each other to learn how to coexist.

-Sofia