The 107th General SexAssembly is almost over. I won’t lie, I’m glad to see it go. My initial thoughts are we are going to be fighting in court for years on most of the social legislation we’ve seen past.

In a side note, I had to take a break from blogging. I’m tough but for Christ’s sake, if this isn’t an example of what is happening right now not only in this state but this country, I don’t know what is. Members of my family and others even wondered if I should take it down due to some of the language of the comments. If you were threatening me, calling me dirty words or the like, you didn’t make it. Sorry, my 71-year-old father reads this and making him uncomfortable isn’t going to happen. The other ones just making fun of me for being “stupid” I left up. So there you have it.

I didn’t quit although the thought occurred to me, but I needed time.  It’s very odd to have strangers yelling at you. As you know for years, I’ve believed in the power of a conversation but that wasn’t a conversation in the least.

And we haven’t had a good conversation in our legislature this year either if the news reporting average folks have been reading is any indication.

We have seen bills turned into laws that deliberately hurt people. I am no lawyer but the constitution is most likely going to be debated a lot in court the next few years. And I think there aren’t enough seats at the table right now where people who are rational are discussing the long-term effects of the bills that have been passed this year. We are the butt of jokes in the national media. It also goes back to that most of this legislation makes the assumption that average folks in this state are bad people. That they need to be legislated to walk the line.

I don’t buy into that in the least. I believe that people are not all bad. I think most of us at the end of the day just want to go home, watch TV and not worry where our next meal is coming from.

This session should have been about job growth. This session should have been protecting teachers and not demonizing them. This session should have been about alleviating suffering for people who have lost. The old saying of giving a hand-up and not a hand-out is fair. The people I know are good people who aren’t the people that apparently the members of the Tennessee GOP know. These are people that are stimulated by a conversation to make not only their lives better but the lives of their neighbors. They want to trust their government to do the right thing.

So long 107th. You won’t be missed, believe me. And if we don’t learn to talk to each other instead of yelling meaningless declarations be it in real life, online or in the legislature, we gain nothing.

And for those of us who lean toward the left, it applies to us as well.

Listening isn’t hard but needs to be practiced with due diligence. This is an opportunity if we all work together and hear what other folks are saying.