No politics at the holiday table!

The holidays bring family and friends together to celebrate the life and deaths of individuals.

Everyone is looking forward to sharing life experiences, and opinions concerning different subjects.

Unfortunately, most people have different opinions regarding life matters and views which can get hostile in a matter of minutes. Have you as the host considered informing your guest that a zero-tolerance topic concerning politics will be enforced to your home during their visit. As fortunate as you are to share time and stories with your friends and family this conversation is sometimes not the most comfortable.

Relatives have the natural tendency to bring up everything you don’t want to talk about.

Holidays do provoke stress, especially in families already strained by emotional tensions, economic challenges, or grief. In order to keep the peace, only talk about subjects of sports, movies, art, food, and books. If a touchy subject surfaces during your holiday dinner, one of your options could be to change the conversation towards one of the topics listed above.

Of course, planned conversations won’t always save the day, but they can be generalized to anyone of any age and background and provide an escape route from an uncomfortable conversation Just in case you have someone that wants to ignore your request of not discussing politics you can simply say, “that’s an interesting point you made,” this response is a respectful way to disagree with someone, yet still lets your

See HOLLIMAN, page A6

Sherry Holliman Community Commentary CLASSON

From page A4

visitor briefly feel heard and can weaken any potential argument about different views.

Opinions provoke people to react! It is certain that having opinions can create controversial discussions and is necessary in the appropriate setting, because that’s the way some people can freely decide what’s right and what’s wrong for itself.

Politics can be a complex issue for some people and especially for those who do not vote.

Regardless of anyone’s opinion this subject can’t be simplified simply by arguments of you-vs-them or solved by over talking the other person until they go away.

Some people cannot agree to disagree. Opinions are not factual and could cause damaging relationships among visitors in your home. As the host you don’t have to validate the subjects that may be inconsistent with yours or your visitors’ political values over the holidays.

Opinions will most definitely start controversial conversations about any subject with everyone wanting to express views of what is right and wrong. For this very reason opinions can either cause a respectful or toxic unhealthy debate.

Instead of getting involved in an uncomfortable situation, just remind every visitor that they were invited to use holiday time to get together with family and friends to share their love and relax.

Do you believe that having a zero-tolerance politics home will prevent family or friends feuds?

Sherry Holliman is a concerned citizen of Critten-den County who has some views she would like to share with the community on a variety of topics. She previously served on the Marion City Council.