Also, context matters!
It helps to remember when discussing politics that not everyone has your knowledge or life experiences.
Yesterday, I wrote a post that had been stewing in the back of my mind for about two weeks. It concerned HB-106, the much-maligned school choice bill.
School choice, now here’s a pure conservative cause; who could be against school choice, except the Wyoming Education Association or other union invested in the status quo?
So I wrote my take on the bill, sent a note to a few legislators, and moved on, thinking I had added my $0.02 for the betterment of Wyoming-kind.
I went about my day and came back to Facebook a bit later, and boy, did I learn a bunch. I can’t quite say that I had my mind changed, but perhaps I had my viewpoint refined.
The first thing I learned is that I often need context to see and understand what a person says. I had one person say one thing to me that I had no frame of reference for, so while I didn’t doubt the veracity of the comment, I had no way of understanding it. Fortunately, a wise individual, a few posts later, gave a concrete example of what was meant. All the tumblers fell into place, unlocking the wisdom for me to grasp.
The second thing I learned is that sometimes people assume you know more than you do, either about them or a particular topic. I realized I have to work harder at explaining what I know (very little) and what I don’t (quite a bit).
As for HB-106, it’s in worse shape than I was able to recognize until today. There are just too many problems that upset too many people. I have potential partial solutions, but I don’t think it will help the bill survive this session.
