As an introduction, I am a liberal person and don’t really have any prejudices. The fact is, though, I just don’t really know any MAGA people. That is to say, probably not coincidentally being a relatively progressive liberal, MAGA enthusiasts are not in my circle; they are not my friends. I did discover in my office, during the past election campaign, after having some heated political discussions, that I worked with a few of them. But despite our daily interactions, I was not friends with any of them outside of our work environment.
This year my family and I planned a summer beach vacation to North Carolina. We decided to break up the drive along the way by staying in small South Jersey shore town. As we entered the town, I was taken aback by all the TRUMP signs that were still adorning peoples’ lawns and the TRUMP flags that flew on so many balconies, six months or so after the election. I knew we were deep in MAGA Country.
The next morning we headed to the beach with our 53-foot Mayflower moving truck; necessary, of course, to carry a week’s worth of personal belongings for six adults and two children, plus enough meals and water to last us in case we were stranded on the beach for weeks. Also along was a tent nearly the size of a small circus tent that we just had to have in order to provide enough shade for a square mile of people. As the three adult men in our group struggled to assemble the humongous tent, two gentlemen jumped to our rescue from their own claimed beach spot and offered to help us, as they were familiar with the mechanics of this particular tent. Boom! The tent was up in three minutes! We were just floored by their kindness and hospitality. What nice guys! And with the American flag prominently displayed by their beach blanket, I was pretty sure they were MAGA.
A little while later we were sitting in our little base camp, and one of our kids was a little restless. Despite the large assortment of beach paraphernalia, we had forgotten the kite. A women sitting nearby, her boom box playing ‘Proud to be an American,’ overheard us lamenting our forgotten kite. She offered to give us her child’s currently up-and-flying kite since they were leaving the beach and no longer needed it. This likely MAGA woman refused to take any money for the kite.
We left the beach right before nap time, planning to return after naps and lunch. We decided to leave the tent and all of our other things at the beach to await our return. We left the beach around 1:00 and returned at 4:00. We were surprised that our tent was dismantled and neatly put away and all the chairs were collapsed and laid flat on the beach. We were a little perplexed, and when we asked a few nearby beach-goers if they knew what had happened, they told us the wind intensified for a while and they were concerned that our tent and chairs might be blown away. Of course, several people helped us to once again put up the tent. Later, when we decided to pack up all our things and head off the beach for the day, a mother of two teenage boys sent them to help us carry our stuff off the beach.
Now I don’t know if all these folks were really MAGA or not, but that was my hunch, and was really most likely the case, given the vibe of the area. I don’t need to remind anyone of MAGA’s position on the treatment of immigrants, or of the MAGA position on Medicaid, education, LGBQT rights, or women’s reproductive health. But I was genuinely surprised that on a personal level, people of the MAGA persuasion could be so caring, kind and accommodating. It may me wonder how we could translate these personal acts of human kindness and decency, you know, just folks caring about and helping each other, to a social and political awareness that is much more respectful and generous to people who are less fortunate more broadly. Where and when was the line drawn; at what point did we stop caring about each other and become enemies? And more importantly, how do we get back to the days when we loved our neighbor? That is the question.
H O W A R D S B E N D 