This past weekend, I attended (and, indeed, was part of the planning and execution of) the Toastmasters District 53 fall conference in Saratoga Springs, NY. As you might expect from such a gathering, you find a large number of people who are dynamic speakers and leaders, and who are not afraid to speak their minds on any topic.

The night before, I was sitting in the hotel bar with a dozen or so of my fellow Toastmasters from all over the Northeast. One in particular, Bill Miranda, began picking on various liberal political notions.

"I see we aren't going to agree," I told him.

"Why? I tend toward the right, where do you tend?"

"To the left," I answered.

"No, we're not."

As the tension in the room began to build, I trotted out a suggestion. Perhaps I could have worded it better at the time, because I used a very poor phrasing of "I'll just say this, then I'll shut up."

"Oh boy," he said, "here we go. The liberal expects me to shut up after he drops his bomb."

"Just hear me out," I said. "I believe in harmony. There's too much dishonour in politics. We spend so much of our time trying to drown out our opposition, and that's not harmony, that's monotony. What's broken in politis is that we have no tolerance for the opposing opinion any more. My best friend is as conservative as they get. I see no reason we can't be friends."

At this point, we shook on a truce, with a new found respect for each other. I'm hoping that Bill takes the idea and runs with it, because I certainly do.