Have you ever seen a cable news panel or media story on the things we all agree on? It seems sometimes as if there is nothing all Americans agree on. But from my perspective as a writer about animals and the creator of this blog, I have come to see that isn’t so. There is much disagreement, but the animal world is not cloven into two ideologies, a left and a right, locked in eternal deadlock and division. Both sides love dogs, cats and other kinds of animals. Some of the most touching messages I received after my writing about Planned Parenthood were from people who identified themselves as “far right” conservatives saying they liked bedlamfarm.com because it was not political, and because they shared with me a passion for animals, and an interest in them. They were sorry to see a political idea injected here.

This has always been so, something I’ve seen on the book tours and elsewhere. The blog attracts all kinds of people with all kinds of political convictions, and they all say it is rare for them to find such a place. So there was some pain and shock as seeing politics intrude, even for a day. It’s interesting to me for many reasons, one being that every subject in our culture, in Congress or on television and the Internet is now presented as an argument.  Journalism doesn’t present stories, but arguments about stories. Politicians don’t present solutions, but arguments about solutions. Online forums are not discussions, but arguments about discussions. We seem to be forgetting how to even talk to one another directly or listen.  Our open spaces are polluted with hostile messages and rigid positions and outrage more than reason is the currency sometimes.

But there is something that unites many of us, and I see it every day – animals. Animals have not been politicized. Lenore and Simon are not controversial. It’s hard to disagree about them. There is a lot of politics in the animals world, but in general, it has not been partitioned off in a “left” and “right” the way social issues like abortion and politics have been. In many ways, the blog has been a safe place for people with differing political views to come together, as there is nothing political here, either about the animals or the political world beyond. There are disagreements, but much more often, a sharing of affection, interesting and love for the animals in our lives. That was mostly deliberate. I wanted the blog to be such a safe place, and I still mean it to be.

I don’t regret writing about Planned Parenthood, and I very much cherish my right to speak freely about my beliefs when so moved.  As my daughter cautioned me recently when I told her of my dislike for conventional politics, that’s fine, she said, but don’t stick your head too far into the sand. Still,  it has dawned on me slowly that there are things that still powerfully can unite most, if not all of us, and some of them are expressed right here, perhaps a reason the blog is on target for between five and six million views this year. This is a very powerful thing for me, something to be celebrated and appreciated. It is also a very spiritual thing. Animals touch something very deep and powerful within us. They remind us of our humanity, of the love and emotional connections and empathy that underlie the human experience, despite hoary efforts to label us and put us all into opposing boxes of the “left” or “right.” The Planned Parenthood disturbance brought that into focus for me, and it is a powerful thing to see. The world beyond may always try and divide us, yet the common experience of being a human – and the powerful experience of loving and needing animals in our lives – may be even stronger.