Too many small boxes.

I hate how quickly politics divides a country by putting people into boxes.

You’re in or you’re out. You’re young or you’re old. You’re left or you’re right. You’re right or you’re wrong.

We so often ignore the complex grey areas, the overwhelming similarities, or the reasons behind differences in world views. People are rarely completely one thing or another; describing someone in that way leads to stereotypes, de-humanising and discrimination. It’s an easy way to blame, an easy way to see the world as Us vs Them. It’s an easy way to look away.

‘Young people should engage in politics more — their voice isn’t being heard!’ But when older people engage in politics, we dismiss, we patronise, because we don’t like what we hear.

I don’t understand how this simplistic view of people and the world solves problems. Boxes on a ballot form are too small to include all that is important to us. They are too small to include all of us, or any of us. They are just too small.