I missed you, Norm

Some people live to be praised and admired, and others can’t wait to be scolded.
           
As the snow birds return from their winter nests (and remind me that I’ll probably never be able to afford a winter nest or even retire), plenty of familiar faces are resurfacing around the area, and perhaps none more so—for me, anyway—than Norm Kruse, who’s always good for a comment, a laugh and a great conversation even if we disagree about everything we’re discussing.
           
Norm made his way to the office this week, and he didn’t waste any time letting me have it. He’d almost cancelled his subscription while in Florida, and Trump is doing a great job. He’s got his opinions; I’ve got mine.
           
But before we part ways, we can usually seem to find something we can agree on: in the most recent case, it was how dangerous the trade war with China could end up being, and a retired farmer can certainly sympathize with the young guys trying to navigate muddy waters going forward all while attempting to get seeds in the ground and animals fed.
           
It’s common in this day and age to hate anyone who disagrees with you, and as I said last week, it’s rare to hear people sitting down, debating issues in a civil manner and bringing intelligent theories on both sides of the matter. We’re a talking point nation: if you’re on the left, you probably get yours from Rachel Maddow or the New York Times, and on the right, you regurgitate whatever Sean Hannity or Breitbart put out the night before.
           
No matter what Norm comes in and says to me, however (and I’m sure he’ll have plenty of thoughts about this column), I feel better every time I talk to him. As politicians and celebrities have constantly reminded us, the more you’re told that everything you’re doing is perfect and great, the more likely you are to become trapped in an echo chamber and squash any and all dissent. Freedom of speech and freedom of thought are still ideas worth fighting for, and they don’t stop when the viewpoints expressed don’t agree with us.
           
I’d also like to say thanks to Deane Adams for writing in this week and all of the others who have done the same. There was a time and a place when the opinion page of the local newspaper was a public forum, a sounding board for the issues of the day, but as you may have heard, Facebook replaced us. And as an editorial that I reprinted a few weeks ago so eloquently puts it, an editorial that arouses strong emotions is an editorial that is read.
           
I’m still concerned about a lot of the things the Iowa Legislature did during the last session, and I still wonder which Trump we’re going to get with each new day. But regardless of all that, as Ronnie Dunn, one of my favorite country singers, once put it, we all bleed red. We all wake up and do our best to survive and put food on the table (in my case, I need to start putting less food on the table, but that’s a separate topic). We all have dreams, goals and passions, and a lot of them overlap regardless of ideology, religion or party affiliation.
           
So let’s keep on yapping and ribbing each other until all of the world’s problems are solved. In the meantime, let’s have some fun solving them.
 
“Writing turns you into somebody who’s always wrong. The illusion that you may get it right someday is the perversity that draws you on.”- Philip Roth