QUOTES FROM ELECTION:

“I am scared that if ‘he’ gets into office, we are going to see more of the Ku Klux Klan and a resurgence of the Nazi Party,” ‘she’ said in November, —-. “I’m afraid things are going to blow sky high during this next term,” a nursing student said. He’s a “nitwit,” added a Democrat. “He’s shallow, superficial and frightening,” one of that year’s historic numbers of “undecideds” insisted”.  “The problem is not a loose lip but the simple answer.” *

JUST a very few weeks into the new presidential administration and most of us are feeling beaten down by the avalanche of political talk from friends, colleagues, TV talking heads, radio personalities, your barber, rabbi and priest.  After an interminably long election cycle and the daily play-by-play of the new administration setting up shop, we’re done….can’t take any more of it.   At lunch with friends, around the water cooler, Facebook, Twitter and on and on and on, we’re tired of all the talk and political posts.  Just in the last week several Facebook ‘friends’ asked “when Facebook become a place to espouse political views”.  Actually that’s not anything new…it’s just that people are so passionate about the current political scene, Facebook and the other social media outlets make it possible to air ones views to the biggest audience with the least effort.  Saddest of all are long time friends who are now at odds with one another and risk ending those friendships.

I’VE got to agree….we’re just worn out!  All the talking heads on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, the Daily Beast, and all other media outlets ad nauseam, can’t convince the ‘other side’ what’s right and what’s wrong in our new political world.  And that’s what bothers me; the two sides.  The divide between the Trump supporters and the Trump deniers is huge.  I remember elections going back as far as Kennedy/Nixon (that one’s a bit cloudy as I was five) and I never remember the country so divided, the depth of which scares me.  I have friends, close friends, that I dare not discuss the current political landscape for fear of ruining relationships, and I don’t like that feeling.  If you can’t rationally discuss your political views with close friends or family, with whom can you discuss them?  It’s reminiscent of the era of McCarthyism when friends would turn on each other at the slightest thought one may be a communist sympathizer…that was a dark period in American life.

BUT isn’t political discourse what makes America, America?  True, we’re all worn out, but the freedom to express our views without being persecuted is what makes our society truly free; a society of free speech and ideas, no matter how intensely we may disagree.  But the pessimist in me says perhaps this divide is just what politicians, both right and left, want; perhaps all the infighting among the general population is just what they ordered.  While we’re busy fighting among ourselves the politicians go about the business of writing policy that favors the few (ie., the wealthy) and lining their own pockets with dollars and power.    As in the past few years, with Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, politicians are betting the publics diminishing interest in protesting and marching against, or for, Trump’s policies.  But the optimist in me sees this situation differently; is there a chance that the divide is so great that there will be a political and cultural shift  similar to what occurred in the 60’s when the nation was divided by an unwinnable war, civil rights protests and a huge shift from a post wartime culture to something much less conservative?  One can only hope that in the long run this huge shift in our nation, brought about by the new administration, will produce some positive results.  It may be years before we know the outcome, but in the mean time lets try to preserve our friendships no matter how much we disagree with one another.

*The opening quote was from Coretta Scott King in 1980 when Ronald Reagan won the presidency.

After I published my last blog post I received the following email from a friend;

“I read your blog post today and it reminded me how different our political points of view are.  That being said, I also think we share many views that are very similar. Please take a few minutes to listen to this TED talk. I’d really like to have lunch with you using the guidelines as suggested. Are you game to give it a try”?

First of all I was somewhat surprised that someone actually read my blog and had taken the time to respond.  After the shock wore off I thought it best to watch the short TED Talk to understand where this was going;  https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_lesser_take_the_other_to_lunch

The TED Talk speaker makes the point that the culture in which we were each raised, and our experiences from that point forward, help form our view of the world on an array of topics and issues.  The road of least resistance is to discuss our individual views with those sharing similar opinions, leaving little room for argument.  And conversely we tend to avoid confrontation on certain topics with those of opposing views, leading to many assumptions about one another.  But, as my friend states in the email, ‘we share many views that are similar’.  That said we decided to put it to a test and I agreed to have lunch.

In this season of discontent on both sides of the aisle we all have strong views on the political situation, my friend and I alike.  And though we each lean in a different direction, our lunch time talk revealed that we have many of the same concerns.  I was asked what scared me so much about a Trump presidency, and as I stated in my last blog; “The one worry I do have, which should have us all concerned, is the empowerment that extremists on the alt-right feel with Trump’s win”.  My friend understood but feels the fringe is so small that their impact overall would be minimal.  I responded that even if the extremists represent 10% (or 5% or even 2%) of the population, that’s a lot of people and I don’t want to see our country going backwards concerning civil rights, reproductive rights, LGBT rights, etc…  We covered a range of other topics including the sensitive nature of discussing politics with close family members who have different views from our own and are unwilling to have a rational discussion.

Without going into detail about lunch, or our similarities and differences, I have to say it was great to sit down with someone who is rational and doesn’t base friendships on ones differences. We were both open to hearing opposing views and learning how they came to be.  My hope is that we left lunch understanding more about each other, how our views developed, how rational discussion can lead to closer relationships, whether personal, business or political.  Would politicians take a page from the TED Talk or from my friend’s initiative….doubtful.  But as citizens we should make the effort to talk to those we know we disagree politically and try to understand one another, lest we start to act like the elected officials who put their self interests first.

I was going to end this post with the paragraph above, but as the week went on and our new president made a mockery of the office and of the people who voted for him, I decided to end with an article by Adam Gopnik from The New Yorker.  He expresses much of what I think much better than I ever could…..enjoy; Read more

The following was recently written by my brother for his company newsletter.  While it is a sales pitch for his customer base I feel it’s a slice of our family life I knew very little about.  It’s fascinating to discover facts about ones own family which often shines a light on who we are…..enjoy!  (And if you do need insurance you know who to call!!!);

“I started Health Insurance Express because of my grandmother. From around 1915 to 1938 she and my grandfather owned and operated the general store in Fulda, Minnesota, a farming town of about 900 people. When they left Fulda for Chicago in 1938 to be near my dad while he attended DePaul University the whole town turned out for their sendoff. They did that because as merchants and residents of the town my grandparents treated each and every Fulda resident like family.

Many years later my grandmother, who continued working in retail until she was 86 years old would tell me, “Always do the right thing for your customers, treat them like family, and the rest will take care of itself. If you’re not sure which products to recommend just ask yourself if you would suggest the same product if this were your brother or sister, your aunt, uncle, cousin, mother, or father.” I guess that most of you had a grandparent or grandparents who greatly influenced you too. Those are lessons you never forget.

Of all the things I’ve done in my working life retail became my first career and my first love. I went from being a stock boy in high school to owning a small chain of men’s clothing stores by age 26. After several years I got tired of the seven-day, five-night a week schedule and started to seek a change. I knew that many of my retail skills and values would transfer into a career in the insurance industry and that’s what I decided to do. However, after many years I got the “itch” again and I took my traditional insurance career (stuffy office, by scheduled meeting only) and changed it into a new type of retail experience, Health Insurance Express. So far it’s working…and I think it is because I followed my grandmother’s advice.

Many people asked me how I could sell an intangible product like insurance in a retail store. But that never occurred to me because I know that our customers look to us for efficient, economical, and secure solutions to their risk management needs. Having a relaxed, informal, and accessible year round place to do that made perfect sense to me and it made the experience much easier for our customers.

Yes, we sell a lot of different products from a lot of insurance companies. Many of these products are complex and explained in lengthy contracts. But I have often said that insurance, by its most essential definition, is simply a promise to pay. Looking at insurance products as promises to pay makes them easier to understand and easier to explain. Here’s what I mean. We offer:

• The promise of a retirement without health care financial disasters with our Medicare plans
• The promise of quality health care with our health insurance plans
• The promise of happy, protected, and trusting employees with our employee benefits plans
• The promise of brighter smiles and beautiful sunsets with our dental and vision plans
• The promise of a financially secure future for our loved ones with our life insurance plans
• The promise of a financially smooth recovery from a sickness or trauma with our disability, critical illness, and accident insurance plans

Like most of you I always had a desire to learn more about my family’s history. As I get older I think that it helps to understand who I am if I have a better sense of where I came from. My dad never told me much about his boyhood or what it was like to grow up in a small town but I always wondered about it, especially since I only knew what it was like to grow up in Chicago, a huge urban area.

Many years after my grandparents and parents had passed away my wife and I took a drive to Fulda, Minnesota, my first time there. I had written a letter to the editor of the newspaper before we left for Fulda, asking if there were archives where I might see ads for my grandparents’ general store or information about my dad’s and uncle’s school days. I didn’t hear back from the editor but when we got into town half of the people had heard about our tour of Fulda and they met us, brought mementoes, photos, and best of all, personal stories about my grandparents, my uncle, and my father. The town’s historian put together a whole presentation of old photos and news articles for us. It was one of the best experiences of my life, really like a family reunion.

Of course one of the things that we had to do during our time in Fulda was to view the site of my family’s general store. What is it today? To my great surprise I found that it’s the town’s insurance agency! Thanks Grandma. And thanks for reading”.

Alan Leafman, President

aleafman@wwins.com

(800) 955-0418