He started it!

If you grew up with a sibling or more than one, you know the refrain "HE STARTED IT!" or "SHE STARTED IT!"

This was the excuse we gave to escalating the matter to the next level. Escalation often meant a fight.

Juvenile? Childish? Certainly, certainly, certainly. Beneath a mature adult?

Apparently not.

I see friends of mine spewing vitriol and hatred like they were manning a fire hose. The object of this ire? Mostly Donald Trump.

Here's what perplexes me. These friends of mine love to say "No hate." The exact words vary, but that's what they say. "Get along." "Live and let live."

Except when it comes to Donald Trump. Then, it's damn the love and full hate forward!

Why? "HE STARTED IT!"

yeah.

What's next? 2nd grade taunts? I'm rubber, yer, glue, bounce off me stick to you‽

I have friends on the right who do the same to Hillary Clinton, but they've been ripping the Clinton's apart for years now. Nothing new there. Not giving them a pass, just saying they are used to doing it. To many of them, tolerance means "I get my way and you get my way." My buds on the left are increasingly adopting this attitude.

This makes me sad.

What makes me even MORE sad is my friends on the left would rather spew hate than address why Trump gathered 13,300,472 votes in the primary. Yes, Clinton polled 15,805,136. But she only ran against Bernie Sanders and he pulled down 12,029,699 votes.

The Reboobican ticket pulled down 28,584,625 votes. The Damnocrats pulled 27,834,835.

The Reboobicans had more total voters than the Damnocrats. Why is that? Why are so many on this side (you need an electron microscope to see the difference in the two parties) saying they will not vote for the nominee? Never before have the two major party candidates been held in such disdain by the public.

Why? Where is the real problem? How do we fix the real issues? How, short of being invaded by another country, can we come together and truly #HumanUp?

We have a problem in this country. Throwing gasoline on this bonfire ain't helping. Hurling insults merely entrenches the ReDamnoboobicratican side. If you think this is about person ... I can lead a person to reason, but I can't make him think. I can't understand it for you.

I don't expect this short missive to change anyone's mind. I don't expect anyone to sit down and take a hard look at their core beliefs. I don't expect anyone reading this to truly #HumanUp no matter how much they claim to be doing just that.

But someone needs to say it. I'm just a voice in the wilderness.

#HumanUp