A Response to My Liberal Neighbor

I recently received this email from a neighbor:

I want to share the following words from Boston Globe “Fast Forward” columnist Teresa Hanafin about the upcoming election. I know it won’t make a difference to your way of thinking — which is a mystery and a deep disappointment to me — but I think it is important for you to understand how many of us who have been your friends feel. This is not just a difference in politics or ideology, it is a difference in fundamental values.

This neighbor’s children grew up with mine. We were once good friends. We socialized and traveled together. No more. But we are civil toward each other. I don’t remember ever talking with him much about politics, but I know him to be center- left — certainly no radical, let alone a revolutionary.