We talked a lot today on The Megyn Kelly Show about what the solution is to what’s happening in our society. And I don’t have the answer. I am not going to sum this up with some secret solution I’ve been holding back. But I will tell you a story.
I went to a birthday party on Friday night for one of my best friends. I love her so much, and she has a very eclectic, wide group of friends. This celebration was an intimate dinner party, and among the guests there was the actress Marlo Thomas.
She was married to Phil Donahue for 50 years. Phil was such a dear man. She came with him when he was on my NBC show, and they were so in love. I had met her then, but I never spent any time with her socially until last week. I wasn’t really sure what to expect because I know our politics are different. I was hoping it wasn’t going to turn into something political – you know how these things can go.
‘Totally Underestimated Her’
Well, I totally underestimated her. None of that came up. We didn’t talk politics at all that night. Instead, we sat around a dinner table and we all talked about what was important to us – how we built our businesses, how we built our families, how we kept our kids close to us and made sure they didn’t drift too far away or lose touch with what matters.
She is 87 years old and had the most valuable stories and life lessons for us. First of all, she gave us hope for what life could be like at 87. She is totally together physically. You would never have thought that she was in her late eighties. And secondly, her mind was firing on all cylinders. Her memory for details from 80-plus years ago was right there. She knew exactly how much to give in a story, where to end it, and how to deliver it. She was an inspiration from that standpoint.
But her stories were also so inspirational. She talked a lot about her dad, Danny Thomas, who was a big star, and what it was like to grow up his daughter in Beverly Hills. She shared the story of how he started St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The Glimmer of Hope
My point is, simply: Don’t give up on your fellow Americans just because they don’t share your politics, and don’t make politics the price you have to pay for engaging with them.
I have said it many times before, but this was just another example of it. You don’t have to talk about politics with everybody. You can have delightful, enriching, meaningful friendships, or, in this case, just evenings with people who are diametrically opposed to you when it comes to your politics without even getting into that stuff.
I am so, so glad that that’s how my evening went with her. I would love for more evenings to go like this between all of us, so we can see each other’s humanity and not make everything about Trump, or our fights, or the darkest news of the day. That is especially true with somebody who has been around the block and has wisdom to dispense. What a gift for me, as somebody who is considerably younger than she is, to be able to receive all that wisdom, which I never would have had access to had I made her politics the issue.
Those of us on our side of the aisle need to remember not to do that too. We need to remember to stay open-minded to the humanity, and the wisdom, and the loving lessons that our elders have to give us – irrespective of who they voted for. I think, especially on the Republican side, we need to remember not to walk in with a chip on our shoulder.
Because while a lot of us are used to being the ones getting attacked, or misrepresented, or loathed, that doesn’t mean that everyone is like that. Some are like that. And when they show you their colors, you can cut them out. But many aren’t like that. Many are totally delightful and don’t care. They may not like the way you vote either, but they won’t make that the stakes if you don’t.
Maybe we can start learning from those people. Maybe we can start loving those people a bit. Maybe that is the glimmer of hope.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,159 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.