Back in August, I tried – once again – to walk away from this column and Capitol Hill Blue. Once again, I failed.
A combination of events led to my return, spurred by the unpleasant task of firing two friends and reassuming day-to-day responsibility for a web site that has – for better or worse – dominated my life for the past decade.
I should have stayed away. I should have resisted the urge to get involved, once again, with politics. I ignored the sound reasons that led me to walk away and promise not to look back.
No more. I’ve got to get out of here. Time to go and stay away.
In a few days, Amy and I will move into a new house, a home that is the culmination of our desire to get relocate permanently to a more peaceful place and live a more tranquil life.
Unlike the cramped, urban setting that has been our home for the past 23 years, the new place offers room to stretch out, to breathe and enjoy life. It offers room to grow and experience all that nature and the world around us has to offer.
There’s room for a lot in our new home but there’s no room for politics, hate, distrust and dissension. There’s no room for the division and partisanship that threatens to destroy our nation.
We leave the National Capital Region weary of the hard-fought battles and political wars. We leave them behind.
I don’t like what I become when I’m around politics. I don’t like the anger that spills from my gut, the bile that erupts or the strident tone that takes over. Being back in the Washington area for the few weeks that it took to pack up our home brought all these unpleasant traits out, driven by an anger that surfaces all too easily.
Our new life in Floyd County offers unlimited opportunities for reflection, for renewal and for growth beyond the petty limitations of the political world. We enjoy the company of people whose lives are not consumed by the need for partisan domination of the discussion or the quick dismissal of one’s thoughts simply because they might be different.
For us, life begins anew on December 3 when we unlock the door of our new home.
This is more than a move from one place to another. It’s a move from one state of mind to another, far away from a world of hate, dissension and distrust.
Politics and hate have proven they cannot exist without each other but we have learned that we can exist without either of them.
So, once again, I say farewell to that which divides and destroys. To those who also say, once again, that I cannot walk away, I can only say one thing:
Goodbye.
