To the editor:

Dear neighbor:

Like you, I do not like to be lumped together in a group with a random label slapped on it by someone in the media, or by anyone, for that matter, who then explains to others what I believe and predicts how I will act.

Like you, I voted, and like you, I am really happy that I can. Like you, I would like to trust the system.

Like you, I feel strongly about guns and immigrants and climate change and COVID, recognizing that our responses to these things may be really, really different.

Like you, I live in this wonderful North Country region, in this state, in this country, yet like you, I sometimes I feel as if we are on different planets.

I do not want to make you angry or suspicious or sad. I am not part of any conspiracy. I am just me, really wondering how I can learn to understand your ways of seeing the world.

And wondering if you are wondering how you can understand mine.

There are no devils here … just neighbors.

Katharine Preston

Essex