Main Street politics

A peace connection between left and right.

Signs of the political season fill two storefronts in the 600 block of North Main in Newton. Only a few yards separate the Republican and Democratic party headquarters.

To some people, the storefronts might symbolize the seemingly inevitable division and rancor of an election year.

Myrna Krehbiel has a different perspective. Literally.

Krehbiel, Peace Connections director, looks at the party headquarters from a vantage point in the middle. When she walks out the door of Peace Connections, she sees, on the other side of the street, Republican signs on her left and Democratic signs on her right.

And she sees symbolism in this midway spot.

What better place to be a peace connection?

This sparks her to do a bit of dreaming about how Peace Connections and its supporters might try to create more peace in an election year.

"I'm interested in inviting people to have conversations with folks who have opinions that are different from their own - to increase understanding, not necessarily to change minds," she said.

Krehbiel envisions the possibility of scheduling times for people to stop by Peace Connections to talk about political issues.

She hopes people who want more peaceful politics will model the ways of peace in the weeks leading up to the election.

"A peacemaker is someone who discourages name-calling and putting down of people and who encourages people not to be apathetic," she said.

The first step is to believe you can have an impact.

"To think that you can't make a difference is a lie," Krehbiel said. "Sometimes a small group of people can make a big difference. A
peacemaker's role is always to look for and to be aware of what the fears are, to name those and to choose love."

If the goal is to seek truth, a spot in the middle just might be the perfect place to start.

- Paul Schrag