Cherishing Connections Beyond Political Views

Have you ever wondered how political differences became more important than family ties and cherished relationships? Explore this perplexing issue with me, Jeffrey Brunk, as I navigate the strange world of political divisions that are tearing families apart. By sharing personal experiences of loss, I highlight the absurdity of allowing political beliefs to overshadow the bonds we have with our loved ones. We examine the dangers of blindly following political figures and the resulting negativity, urging you to reflect on your own feelings and to foster unity over division.

Let's challenge the misconceptions around what makes a "Christian country" and the fear-based narratives that seek to divide us. As the holidays approach, I call on you to embrace love and acceptance, regardless of differing viewpoints within your family. We'll also reflect on America's shared immigrant roots and how these can serve as a foundation for open-minded discussions instead of divisive debates. Let us cherish every moment, appreciate our connections, and avoid future regrets by prioritizing the people who matter most. As the year draws to a close, I extend warm wishes for a joyful and safe New Year, hoping you'll join me on this journey toward unity and understanding.

Chapters

• 0:00 Unity Amidst Political Divisiveness
• 13:59 Personal Responsibility and Self-Reflection
• 20:10 Embracing Relationships and Celebrating Unity

Transcript

Jeffrey Brunk: 1:21

So hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Everyday Shaman. I am Jeffrey Bronk, your host, and I'm glad to have you here. It's been a while since I've been here. A lot has gone on since the last podcast and the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket, doesn't it for a lot of people? I know I have seen it quite a bit.

Jeffrey Brunk: 1:44

The craziness and I'm not just talking about the election and the outcome of the election, and this is not a political podcast episode in any sense of the word Well, and I guess in a sense it is in a way, but there's a lot to be taken away from what has happened in the last few months or the last month and a half since the election. There were surprises, but there were surprises in a lot of ways, especially amongst, call it, whether it be red, blue, right, left, democrat, republican, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is, but it's within families and it's drawn out things within people that really just chat my butt because it's stupid. It really is stupid to see the divisiveness within families because someone has voted for this person versus this person. Whether they have a good reason or not, which is another issue we'll get to is basically irrelevant that I know and I'm reading about it in other families people that decided, hey, I'm not going to invite so-and-so to Thanksgiving or I'm not even going to have a family Thanksgiving because my nephew or my son or my niece or daughter-in-law, whoever it might be, voted for one person or another. So there's anger there and it's stupid. And I'm going to tell you why I say that, because I know I'm not the only one in this position.

Jeffrey Brunk: 3:29

But to come from a place of having lost pretty well, in my case, pretty much all of my family Thank God I still have my sister left and having estranged children and having nothing left, and then seeing what previously were cohesive, close, tightly knit families just ripped apart because of something as ridiculous as a freaking election, just is crazy. But what that does is it exposes something that's even deeper. And I'm not talking specifically about fear, which is part of it, but when you look at either side, in any situation there is something that draws someone, and I'm going to use the election as an example because it's a polarizing thing, and it's going to be a polarizing thing for quite a while. But in the case of the election, one person was spouting one thing that they were going to do. One another they're going to do.

Jeffrey Brunk: 4:26

Basically, all politicians are salesmen, just a step above used car salesmen and I apologize to you, car salesmen, but really you know they'll say anything to get elected. They'll say anything to get what they want to be, where they want to be, and people will follow. They will just freaking blindly follow, follow. They will just freaking blindly follow. And in the case of what happened in November, they'll follow based on one particular point, and the points of this past election were immigration or the economy, the typical things. Yet neither side spoke anything about what plans there were. So individuals follow because, oh okay, the stock market's going to do well, I'm going to make money. It's an ego choice. Or we're getting rid of immigrants there's fear, fear mongering or we're going to do everything for you, we're going to fix all the problems. It's never happened, it never will, but people believe and they go with it.

Jeffrey Brunk: 5:27

And so it was so polarized this past November that seeing it within my own extended family was enraging, and I had to catch myself several times and I call it going dark from going dark, knowing that to do so is really to inflict harm upon myself, because, when you get down to it, we are all connected, whether it's to someone in the White House or someone down the street or someone in the family. You need to accept people for who they are. Everyone needs to accept others for who they are, despite their flaws, no matter how big. That doesn't mean you have to like them, it doesn't mean you have to like what they do, but you accept them because, being connected, there's the ripple effect what you put out there in negativity or in positivity comes back to you and to see the negativity that has been spewed by people that I thought I knew and people that I've read about, who thought they knew the people for years family members, friends, co-workers and suddenly, because of something as inane as a freaking election, they separate themselves and I have had a very difficult time wrapping my head around it.

Jeffrey Brunk: 6:49

But what it comes down to is not who is in the White House or who is in the Senate or who is in Congress or who runs a freaking corporation. It comes down to an individual belief, which is not a truth necessarily. A belief is like a wish it's what you make it and it's, I guess, a notch up from an opinion. So we live in a time where everyone's opinion is right and if you dare step on that opinion with a truth or a fact, then you're looked at as the bad guy, the outsider, and the hatred comes out. It's a snowball effect and that's what we're seeing, and that's what we have been seeing for quite a while, and it's getting worse and it's going to only get worse until we collectively no, until we individually and then collectively recognize within ourselves okay, why am I so angry? Is it worth it to be angry at someone I love, someone that is a family member my kids, my spouse, my in-laws, whatever. Is it worth it because of something so ridiculous? Whatever Is it worth it because of something so ridiculous? And I'm not saying a leader, loosely worded, is a ridiculous thing. I'm saying that something as crazy as putting all your eggs in the basket of someone and hoping and believing they're going to fix all your problems is ridiculous. And I'm saying ridiculous a lot because I'm keeping this family friendly. I could really go off on this if I chose to and changed my whole criteria on my podcast, but it's lunacy. It really is To believe that everything that someone says is true, everything that someone says is true, or knowing that it's not true and not liking the person that is running for president or running for governor is not a good person or is obviously one who will fabricate or elaborate on things that they will do. And I'm talking both sides. This is not a partisan thing, you know.

Jeffrey Brunk: 9:06

I was out the other day and funny thing we were doing we were in Richmond, virginia, and we were driving through a neighborhood and we were trying to guess because it's laden with churches. It's almost as bad as Charlotte, north Carolina. Every other corner there's a church. So we were going okay, what is this coming up? Is it Methodist, is it Baptist, is it Protestant, is it Catholic? It was kind of a little game based upon the architecture of the building, before we even saw the signs, and one had a fairly substantial cemetery and one had a fairly substantial cemetery and my thought was you know the people in that cemetery?

Jeffrey Brunk: 9:43

They're not Episcopalian, they're not any denomination, not anymore. They are no longer living, at least not on this planet, but they're all the same. They're you, they're me, they're our neighbors and they're laying there six feet under, without being red or blue or Baptist, or Methodist or Catholic or whatever it may be. They are all the same and it really put things into perspective for me, and I hope maybe my little simile will put things in perspective for others that are listening to this and cause people to take a look at themselves and choose their battles, choose how to expend their energy you know what they get angry about or to even recognize that they're angry and stop it before it happens and realize well, it's not worth it, it's not good for the other people, it's not good for anyone around, it's not good for yourself. So why do it? Something as small as dropping something and then screaming about it? God, I'm so angry because I dropped a hammer or I dropped my chains or whatever. Why? Why do it? It's really no different than the anger that is felt towards others because they voted for someone in a red or blue, whichever it is.

Jeffrey Brunk: 11:04

Republican Democrat, I get the colors freaking mixed up because I don't care and I don't mean that in an off-putting. I don't care about the country way, although in a lot of ways this country is a United Corporation of America, not the United States of America. We're going backwards. The Roman Empire lasted 2,000 years before it fell. We've been around a little over 200. I don't know if we'll make it to three, because the foxes are loose in the hen house and the inmates are running the asylum in this country and we stand back and we are the ones that are letting it happen, because we're putting the people in the asylum and we're putting the foxes in the hen house but we get mad at others. You know, it's just as bad on the other side for people who are so passionate about and I'm going to use something such as women's rights, which is very, very important that they are there Women, they have the rights to their own bodies and their own careers and their own lives.

Jeffrey Brunk: 12:08

But when people get so passionate that they spew the putrid things towards the ones that are attacking them, it is no less of an attack than what they see as being placed upon them. Does that make sense? It's the pot calling the kettle black. Hate is hate, anger is anger, negativity they're all low vibrations, low frequencies, and we have a choice. We always have a choice if we discern what we're feeling, if we understand in the moment because that's what we have is the moment If we understand what we're feeling and go into ourselves and say why, why am I feeling this way? Is it worth it?

Jeffrey Brunk: 12:51

Sometimes it is to a certain extent, but for something to rip families apart, to rip relationships apart, to separate parents from children, to separate lifelong friends, to separate relationships between men and husbands and wives, and really can anyone make sense of it? Can anyone wrap their heads around it and tell me that it's worth it? If you can, I would love to hear the argument that, oh yeah, it is worth it, when it comes to a presidential election, to stand your ground because so-and-so says this and says they'll do that and we'll get rid of people. And you know, when it comes to religion, aspects of it, making this a Christian country, which it never has it was founded not on Christian principles. Read your history books, people. You know it was founded for freedom, not freedom from religion, freedom of religion, and wasn't founded on Christian principles. But we look at the ones running now.

Jeffrey Brunk: 13:59

A lot of things that are said are based upon oh, we're going to make this a Christian country, the way it should be, the way it was founded, which is a lie. But they seem to have ripped out the whole second half of the book that they espoused to be following and only follow the first half of the book and the last chapter of the New Testament Fear, fear, fear, instill fear, instill control. And that is what's happened in this country, and we're allowing it because we're doing it to ourselves and then spreading it further and further and further to those around us. It's become such a chasm between people, it's just mind-boggling. So this is sort of a rant. It needs to be said. Maybe it's just for me, I don't know. I hope that people will. No, I'm not going to say hope, because hope is a wish.

Jeffrey Brunk: 14:53

You know, my intention is always for the other person. When I work for them, I drop my own ego, no matter what's going on. I can do it for others. It's hard to do it for myself. So I understand the difficulty that individuals have with stopping to look inward. But it is so necessary to turn off the freaking TV, to get outside and ground yourself, to listen to yourself, to catch yourself.

Jeffrey Brunk: 15:21

Before you go off at someone because of a certain belief that they have, even if it's them spouting a conspiracy theory, you don't have to just go off and say that is the dumbest thing. Why do you do this? And it's really tempting to do that, trust me, it's really tempting to do that because some things are so ludicrous that people will just grasp at because they're searching for something or searching for someone that will help them get through whatever they're going through, or to quell their fears, to give them a sense of peace that everything's going to be okay, when all of that is within themselves, if they just listen for it and not rely on someone or something to provide that for them or tell them they're going to provide that for them. Because people, as harsh as it sounds, are so wrapped up in themselves and I'm not saying everyone, but everyone has ego and they get so wrapped up in themselves that it's sometimes hard to see the humanity in others when they're so passionate about something such as this past November's election. Or hell, football, nfl I hate the Bears, I love the Panthers, whatever, and I'm picking two teams out of the fricking bag, so don't hate me for that, but it's the same type thing Fights, verbally or physically, and things can escalate and become worse and I'll be honest with you, things are going to become worse.

Jeffrey Brunk: 17:04

I'm not telling that to instill fear. I'm saying that to actually provide peace, because when you know something as a truth, you accept it and it takes the fear away, but when that fear is still there and you're still searching, you do crazy things and you believe crazy things. It's not the same as knowing, because knowing is not the same as believing or hoping or wishing. Those are man-made constructs or societal constructs, or religious constructs or even governmental constructs. Knowing is a basic, human, spiritual, divine aspect of ourselves and we have those answers if we listen.

Jeffrey Brunk: 17:44

So, as we head into the Christmas season, which is here as I'm recording this in just a few days, don't go in looking for fights, don't put off your plans, don't avoid family just because of something as inane as oh, I voted for so-and-so and you voted for the other person Because, as harsh as it sounds, it's just freaking stupid. It really is. There will come a day when you'll regret that, when you'll regret things that were said over something so ridiculous, something so petty compared to a greater picture of what is there now. In that moment, you have a spouse or a significant other or a family or children and love or acceptance. Why throw that away over? The economy is going to be great if I put this person in office. That's one example. You know that's not going to last, and help me with this one too.

Jeffrey Brunk: 18:44

We are a country of immigrants. We're all freaking immigrants, and I would love to get a take on this from a Native American. You don't see an uprising and them fighting each other. We took a country. We're all immigrants, right? Don't say no, because if you say no, you really need to read a freaking history book that is written in truth, not something that's seen on TV. It's not a John Wayne type scenario here. We stole, as Europeans, a whole freaking country and took it for ourselves and then nearly wiped out a lot of the natural resources and habitat A lot of times just for fun. So love the people you're with.

Jeffrey Brunk: 19:31

Think for yourself and look at what you have, not what you're promised by someone who really doesn't care about you or know about you. Look at what you have and then look at what you have inside and listen to that. Spirited discussions are great. You learn from those, but discussions to cause division based upon a crazy belief or a crazy following and not listening is insanity. Anyhow, I guess I have probably alienated quite a few people, and if I have, so be it. Think for yourselves. Listen to your heart, not your head.

Jeffrey Brunk: 20:10

The moment is all you got and the people in it in that moment are what you've got. Make the most of it. Make the most of the relationships you have, and the people in it in that moment are what you've got. Make the most of it. Make the most of the relationships you have. Don't throw them away. You will regret it, trust me. Strap in for the ride. So, anyway, I'm going to wrap up this podcast and thank you for joining me. Thank you for staying with me and being patient, as I kind of went off a little bit there, but it needed to be said and I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, happy holidays, christmas, kwanzaa, shalom, everything that's out there, tree hugging, pagan, we're all the same. Enjoy the time together and wish everyone a happy, safe new year. Hopefully it's a good one, and I hope to have you back with me soon. Thanks for joining me. Take care of yourselves, peace.