Political awakening between sausages and potato salad
Politics is strange. I remember exactly how difficult I found it to explain to my young children what it is. Normally you try to teach them to go through life decently and tell the truth.
To then explain to them why the most important people in Switzerland, our politicians, don't always say everything and why they behave on social media as if they were kindergarteners, is distressing. Politics is almost always a disappointment, at least if you are old enough to have seen what happens to big promises over the years.
Everything becomes easier with grown-up children. Not only because a little life experience helps to understand complex problems. But because the maturing process ideally also leads to understanding oneself as a political being and being able to form an opinion in elections and votes, at some point one also discusses politics.
In contrast to social media, our different perspectives are fruitful.
The family table is particularly suitable for this. Since my daughter has moved out and her new independence has sharpened her political profile, she likes to set herself apart from her family here too. She argues along SP lines. I, a middle-class ex-leftist, play the advocate diaboli and look for holes in her arguments.
My son, on the other hand, has just turned 18 and is driven above all by a desire to discuss and pride in his intellectual independence. My mum, who visits and cooks for us every Monday and is always up to date with the topics of the lesson, is also happy to join in.
And so we, four people from three generations, discuss the AHV reform, woke culture and the federal government's coronavirus policy over sausages and potato salad. Everyone sends their own experiences, perspectives and opinions into the arena to be picked apart by the others.
We are a dedicated bunch of debaters and we rarely agree. But unlike social media, where differences of opinion quickly degenerate into furious verbal battles, our different perspectives are fruitful.
When my mum speaks, everyone shuts up for a moment and remembers what's really important. Namely, listening to each other.
When I get upset about trans activists who are campaigning against J. K.Rowling, my son points out the reality of trans people in his life. When my daughter talks about disadvantaged women in the labour market, I point out that they enjoy certain advantages in family law.
My mum contributes her experience as a child psychiatrist and is respected by everyone as the moral high ground. When she speaks, everyone shuts up for a moment and remembers what's really important. Namely, to listen to each other.
We may see problems differently, we may want to win arguments, but we also like each other too much to argue about it. We would much rather make the effort to understand why the other person is where they are. Perhaps that's what's missing in today's political culture. And a moral authority so that everyone just shuts up and listens.
