To the editor:

I took part in the “No Kings” protests on March 28th mostly for selfish reasons: I find it comforting to be in the company of other people who reject ambiguity when it comes to administration policies that hurt people, other living things, the basic U.S. economy, and the global legitimacy of this country that I love. By showing up together we say: these policies are wrong and we will not let them be normalized.

But, an observation:

The theme of “No Kings” focuses too much on Trump. He, of course, loves this. To me — he is a blustering, frighteningly mentally unbalanced individual with an ego cleverly exploited by those desperate to retain power and their (mostly) oil-related money. No doubt getting rid of Trump will help the world, but insulting him with a viciousness that, frankly, sometimes mirrors his own belittling and rude attacks, becomes like a “tit for tat” and feeds his ego even more. Likewise, attacking his supporters with as clever-as-possible, often cynical signs with extreme comments about their intelligence continues to reaffirm for them that others do not understand nor care about their (sometimes legitimate) complaints.

It also indicates an unwillingness to admit to a complicity on the part of us all that has led to this polarization.

All the bed-rock issues — immigration, the economy, inequality, climate chaos, corporate overreach — predate Trump. He (and his handlers) exploit the ensuing divisiveness, making it harder for people to talk to one another.

To dialogue, we will need the courage to possibly be mis-understood by those who think differently from us. We will need to see “nuance” and “empathy” and “compromise” NOT as dirty words to be feared. If we can love and care enough about our neighbors to be genuinely curious about they feel or think, maybe we can move from confrontation to conversation, and from protests to progress.

Katharine M. Preston

Essex