Dear Editor:
Political elections can be contentious times and this past election cycle certainly proved that to be true. Our country and local community appear to be sharply divided along political lines. But there are times when those lines blur and Tuesday’s rainy election morning was just one of those times.
I volunteered to campaign from 6 a.m. until 8 a.m. in the rain on election day at Johnson’s United Methodist Church, in Machipongo. I came prepared with a warm sweater, raincoat and umbrella, but found I could not hold my umbrella and hand out literature at the same time, so I ditched the umbrella and held the literature inside my jacket to keep it dry.
A local candidate was also campaigning at that polling site with a large umbrella. He insisted we share his umbrella and I must admit, I was grateful.
It was clear we held differing political opinions and we acknowledged that fact. Yet, we continued to spend those rainy two hours conversing about the Shore, hops, and farming in between campaigning. I would like to thank Dixon Leatherbury for embodying the belief that people with opposing political views can be civil and downright friendly with each other. Thank you for sharing your umbrella with me.
As we move into the next election cycle, I hope more people are willing to acknowledge, yes, we see things differently and that’s O.K. and we can share an umbrella.
Melody Copper, Machipongo
