Idaho and the U.S. are growing more politically divided. Here’s our ‘way out of hell’ | Opinion

A tragic period in world history is the great Indian partition of 1947. Prior to that time, Great Britain had colonial rule over India. But when Britain granted India independence, India partitioned into two independent nation-states, Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. Millions of Hindus from the north migrated south to India, and millions of Muslims likewise migrated north to Pakistan. Across the Indian subcontinent, these religious communities which had existed together for nearly a millennium were now killing and forcing each other out of their respective areas. A grand people could no longer coexist peacefully.

It was, for many millions of people, a living hell.

The political and social impact of the events surrounding the partition are captured in the Academy Award-winning 1982 film “Gandhi.” A particularly impactful scene involves a man named Nahari, a Hindu, who approaches Gandhi who is in the midst of a fast-unto-death to try to stop the violence that was threatening to break out into a civil war. Nahari, who is highly agitated, declares to Gandhi, “I’m going to hell. ... I killed a child. I smashed his head against a wall.” Gandhi, in his weakened state, asks Nahari why he did this, to which Nahari responds, “They killed my son. ... The Muslims killed my son.”

Gandhi then says, “I know a way out of hell. Find a child, a child whose mother and father have been killed, ... and raise him as your own. ... Only be sure that he is a Muslim and that you raise him as one.”

Gandhi’s response shocks Nahari for a moment, but then he is overcome with emotion and falls to Gandhi’s bed and weeps uncontrollably.

What could this event in history, and a powerful scene from a movie, teach us?

In America, we are not at a point of “partition” — not anywhere close. But history should teach us lessons before we have to learn them the hard way.

We are a melting pot of vastly different people with differing backgrounds, nationalities and beliefs. We have coexisted for a far shorter time than the Hindus and Muslims in India had at the time of the partition. But we’re showing signs of fracture.

We are conditioned to think of each other as left/right, red/blue, right/wrong, good/evil. These binary, arbitrary, and wrong mental divisions eventually lead to physical divisions and violence. More people these days are moving to areas where they have like-minded neighbors and communities. Political leaders across the country are drawing districts which shelter their parties from challenge. News stations abandon objectivity, and social media drives us further into our protected bubbles of ideology. More people on each side of the political aisle now see the other side as “evil” than ever before.

And lest we think that “partition” is the answer, it usually doesn’t end that well. Think Korea, Vietnam, Germany, and, of course, India/Pakistan. So much suffering has been caused by an unwillingness to coexist.

Instead of continuing to run down this road, to adopt an idea from Gandhi, let me propose a way out of this eventual “hell.”

Make it a New Year’s resolution to befriend someone who is not of the same political party, or who voted for “the other” candidate for president, or who is not of your same faith, or who thinks or lives fundamentally differently than you do. Maybe they live in your town, or maybe they live on the other side of the country or the world and you are communicating remotely.

Then, strive to be a true friend to this person regardless of their differences. Learn who they are, and love who they are. Be their friend with absolutely no conditions attached. No efforts to convince them of your point of view. Make sure they are different than you, and that they remain as such.

Do it deliberately, with a purpose to broaden your horizons and expand your way of thinking. Do it to expand your understanding of love and humanity.

This is sure to be a difficult exercise, but I truly hope you are a better person, and our nation is more united, because of it.