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Folks on 'left' and 'right' share one thing they respect about one another. It's giving hope.

As one person wrote, "This is the most mature comment section I’ve seen."

Courtesy of Ashley Rankin @gynaminte_/TikTok

Looking at the positives of the other side makes it a lot harder to hate.

The United States feels on edge right now, with passions running high and partisanized rhetoric ramping up in the days following Charlie Kirk's assassination in Utah. For non-extremists, it's disheartening to see people on both "the left" and "the right" being painted in sweeping brush strokes filled with vitriol.

Most of us don't live like this in our everyday lives. Most of us don't live at extremes and are capable of nuanced thought. We acknowledge that the world's problems are complex and know that we aren't always going to agree on every solution. While we may disagree, sometimes vehemently, we don't paint half of our fellow Americans as the enemy.

america, united states, polarization, political division, partisanship Political polarization is out of control. It doesn't have to be this way. Photo credit: Canva

A woman in Utah, Ashley Rankin, was feeling overwhelmed and confused about the state of the country when she decided to make a video plea for compassion and understanding. "While recording, I zoned out for a second and my face perfectly captured how I felt in that moment," she tells Upworthy. "I dropped the words and thought, rather than telling people to spread love, hope, and compassion, I want to see what they will do, when presented with the opportunity."

So she overlayed her few-second video with "If you lean left, tell me something you respect about the right. If you lean right, tell me something you respect about the left," adding, "Let's spread hope." She asked viewers to fill her comments with positivity, and in a miraculous flip of the script we so often see online, people delivered exactly what she asked for.

@gynamite_

Please fill my comments with positivity! I live in Utah and things feel heavy here. #bridgingthedivide #HopeInHumanity #BetterTogether #UtahCommunity #positive

The comments filled up with people leaning one way or the other—sometimes even pretty far to the left or right—expressing their respect and admiration for various characteristics and beliefs of the "other side." It's truly a beautiful outpouring that demonstrates how much closer we are than we think:

"I am conservative, but I appreciate the left's fight for free lunches and universal healthcare. I don't believe anyone should starve or be denied medical care because they can't afford it."

"Left here: I respect how the right heavily advocates for the farm and rural communities. We really do need to send more resources out to them and respect our farmers more."

"Lean right - love the passion of the left and how they always want to speak up for the smallest person in the room."

"Straight blue voter here. I do appreciate the conservative principle of fiscal responsibility for the govt. We may disagree how our tax dollars are spent, but I don’t disagree that govt is wasteful."

Season 19 Episode 10 GIF by The Simpsons Giphy

"More conservative, but I love how the left advocates for preserving our earth, mental health, and resources for those who NEED them."

"As a Democrat I appreciate republicans patriotism and love for country and support for our troops and veterans. I just wish their representatives would vote to support those things that most of their constituents want to support."

"I’m more right than left, but I respect the left for their belief that you don’t have to be a traditional family to have family values. I actually agree with that."

"Leftist here 🤘🏼 I live in a deeply conservative, rural area. Whenever I’m in need, there’s help. Fresh baked bread randomly, the mechanic giving me free advice/discounts, fresh farm eggs cheaper than the store🥹"

"I’m mostly conservative. I appreciated the level of anger and ongoing fight regarding the undoing of roe v wade."

"Extremely left here, I appreciate how fiercely the right stands up for the working people; farmers, etc. I also am with them on getting violent criminals off the streets."

farmer, conservatives, liberals, right and left, politics People on the right tend to support rural life.Photo credit: Canva

"I’m conservative. I do truly respect that the people on the left wanting gun control have good hearts and genuinely want the gun violence to end."

"Dear Left-leaning people, Thank you for your fight for immigration rights. I may not 100% agree with how we get there, but, everyone deserves the right to come into the country and to have a chance for a better life."

"By far the BEST comment section I've ever seen. I lean left heavily but I've always admired how persistent Republicans are at pushing legislation and the change they want to see."

Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, there was a ton of love for John McCain and Barack Obama coming from opposite sides of the aisle in the comments.

"My family was always conservative, but everyone voted for Obama twice. Sometimes we have to accept that labels are for soup cans and vote for the person better qualified to lead."

"I’m a lifelong Democrat. I really loved John McCain! I thought he was such a well-rounded example of a true American patriot!"

"I lean more right, but Obama was the last president I felt like we all respected."

"I don’t 'lean' left: I am left. However, I think John McCain also conducted himself with so much integrity. I think he tried to do a good job and actually cared about the people in this country."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

"I am very Liberal and Canadian BUT when John McCain defended Obama against Muslim/ Arab attacks at his town halls…. I literally cried."

"I lean right, but I think the last time we had any dignity in politics, and I felt secure as a nation was when President Obama was in office. I think he’s an incredible leader, and he was the last time I trusted the person in power."

"I respect how John McCain stood up for Obama at one of his rallies and how he silenced the boos during his concession speech. Truly miss that kind of politics. Where we could disagree on issues but didn’t tear other down."

Mostly, though, people were just relieved and delighted to see how genuinely kind and heartfelt the comments were.

"This comment section glued a tiny piece of my heart back together."

"These comments are not what I expected to see. It gives me hope that we are not as divided as politicians and media wants us to believe."

"Reading all these comments makes me realize that we should be fighting extremists (both left and right) instead of each other."

"This is the most mature comment section I’ve seen. This is the dialogue I want to see. It’s easy to speak to each other when we do it in a respectful way rather than resorting to name-calling and oppressing others."

We really do have more in common than the online discourse and political rhetoric from many politicians would have us believe. Social media algorithms may reward extremism, but videos like this and the responses they're receiving are far more indicative of the reality most of us live in. Rankin's video has accumulated over 10,000 comments and they are overwhelmingly positive.

"I posted the short video hoping a few people would have genuine and respectful words, but was not expecting much," Rankin says. "I had NO idea the impact it would have on me and so many others. The comments were exactly what my weary heart needed. I'm finally proud to be an American again."

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DINK couple bragging about the joys of being child-free has people divided

Some folks didn't like the lighthearted joke.

via LillyAnne_/TikTok

Lilly and Evan share the joys of having 2 incomes and no kids.

The DINK phase of life is as carefree as can be. You’re with the love of your life. You have few responsibilities and that means more disposable income and time. So many people love the double income, no kids lifestyle that they are one of America's fastest-growing populations.

As of 2022, 43% of U.S. households were childless, a 12% increase over the past 10 years. Another study found that a majority of DINKs (51%) enjoy the lifestyle and say they have no plans for having any children.

This major change could be attributed to the attractiveness of having more money and time, but it also has a lot to do with the cost of raising children these days. A recent report from Lending Tree found that it now takes over $230,000 to raise a child over 18 years.

A Utah couple, Lilly Anne, 21, and her husband Evan, 21, created a video on TikTok that celebrates the DINK lifestyle and it’s gone viral, attracting over 3.4 million views. In the video, the happy couple shares all of the things they enjoy about having two incomes and no children.

@lillyanne_

Visit TikTok to discover videos!

“We're DINKs. We are going to get asked daily when we plan on having kids,” Lilly opens the video. “We're DINKs, of course, we are going to go out to eat every night after work,” Evan responds.

The couple then lists every thing they love about being DINKS including, never missing a football game, playing 18 holes of golf without worry, not having to hire a babysitter, or ask for financial help from parents. Most importantly, they get to spend money on themselves, not a kid.

“We are DINKs. We are going to get asked at every family event what we are doing with our life,” Lilly concludes the video.

The video appears to be very lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek, especially given that Lilly and Evan — like many others of their ilk — are often badgered by family members about having kids. The video is their gentle pushback to those who think they need to have children.

The video received a lot of angry responses from parents who didn’t get the joke.

"Likely to be together and maybe married then soon divorced,” Raymond wrote in the comments. "Life without kids is so vapious," D33g0 added.

"You also will die scared, alone and no one will care and no one will remember you. Good luck with that." FordFairlane wrote.

It was clear from the comments that many people missed the video's lighthearted humor. "Until I read these comments, I didn’t realize once you have kids, you lose all ability to recognize satire," a user wrote. "I will never understand people who get so upset about other people's choice to not have kids. so weird," Ash added.

The negative comments inspired Evan and Lilly to create a follow-up video: “Evan and I are watching you guys blow up my comment section over some lighthearted joke.”

@lillyanne_

Visit TikTok to discover videos!

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Joy

Woman is on a mission to find the girl who sent her a Sadie Hawkins invitation by mistake

“To not get an answer back and not know it was because it went to the wrong house would be so sad."

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Everybody is rooting for Katie in this situation.

It was a leisure-filled Sunday morning when Laurice Marier heard her doorbell ring and went to go answer it. But by the time she arrived at her front porch, all that was waiting for her was a Sadie Hawkins dance proposal.

The mystery sender named Katie clearly had a love for puns, writing, “I’ve BEAN meaning to ask you, wanna go to Sadies?” on a poster accompanied by four cans of beans and a bag of jellybeans. (How cute is that?)

Though the invite was clearly given to her by mistake, Marier told her local news outlet Fox KSTU that she had to try to reach the original sender.

"When I had crushes, or just people I was interested in, I often just took that very nervous step in trying to just reach out," she told KSTU. "I just remember when it wasn't successful how my heart just dropped, and I do not want that for Katie."

In addition to calling nearby high schools, Marier also posted to her community Facebook Page in an attempt to find more information.

“This was left on my doorstep in the Traverse Mountain area yesterday but there is no one at my household who is Jr. High or High School age," her post read. “I feel bad for Katie… does anyone know her?”

sadie hawkins dance

Katie's adorable invite shouldn't go unnoticed.

Laurice Marier/Facebook

Though no one could provide Katie’s whereabouts, hundreds shared Marier’s concern.

“Asking someone to a dance is scary enough, but to not get an answer back and not know it was because it went to the wrong house would be so sad.Thank you for being a caring person!” one person wrote.

As of Oct 9, no one knows if Katie is aware that her sweet invite landed at the wrong address. But, as Marier wrote in an update, “it wasn’t because of the incredible effort of this community.”

She remains hopeful that because of the amount of widespread coverage the story has gotten, perhaps Katie is just “nervous of coming forward.” So the new plan is to wait a week, and if there is no response, Marier will “make a little chili and eat some jellybeans in her honor. 😊"

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Salt Lake City is leading with compassion by building a tiny home village for the homeless

Other cities could adopt this approach.

Photo by Karl Hedin on Unsplash

Salt Lake City is building a tiny home village.

Homelessness is a problem that plagues many cities and there are so many different approaches to address the issue. Salt Lake City is trying a compassionate approach by building a tiny home village to address its homelessness problem. The city council is looking to lease eight acres of land to build 430 tiny homes as a safe place for homeless people to get on their feet.

There's more.

Salt Lake City isn't just placing people into tiny homes and calling the job done. It's also providing services and resources to help residents succeed in eventually being able to move on from the village and into permanent homes. The village is expected to cost around $13.8 million to complete and the city council voted 7 to 0 in favor of moving forward. City council member Alejandro Puy told Fox 13, "We need to do everything in our power to mitigate not only the consequences but bring good things to the westside."

In 2020, there were 580,466 people experiencing homelessness in America, which far out numbers the amount of beds available in homeless shelters. Since there are so few beds available compared to the number needed, there are large numbers of people who are forced to sleep completely unsheltered. Depending on where someone finds themselves without a home, their treatment may be different as there's no universal plan to address the issue.

Hostile architecture.

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Some cities don't exactly embrace empathy and compassion when planning how to handle their homeless population. Several large cities in America, including New York and Philadelphia, have spent millions of dollars on what has been coined "hostile architecture." It's where they make park benches slanted or awkwardly divided to discourage people from sleeping there. Some places have even placed spikes and boulders under overpasses that are often used to escape the elements for people without other means of shelter.

But not all cities are attempting to make it difficult to be homeless. Columbus, Ohio, has been working to keep people off the streets in a more effective and compassionate way for nearly 40 years. In 1986, Columbus created a Community Shelter Board, which controls the funds, programs and homeless response, and in 2000 the city took it a step further by building permanent supportive housing. The Community Shelter Board also makes sure the requirements to enter their shelters are extremely lenient to make it easier for people to get the assistance they need.

Soup kitchen.

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Thanks to the gentle and humanitarian approach to homelessness, Columbus maintains a lower homeless population. As Salt Lake City continues to move forward with its tiny home village, it will likely follow closely in the steps of Columbus ensuring that everyone who wants a home has one.

Ending homelessness isn't something that can happen overnight and won't be an easy task because it's not a straightforward issue. Seeing cities lean more heavily into understanding the root causes of homelessness and doing their part to fix it is heartwarming. For now, it's unclear what will come next in the process for building the tiny home village, but when it's complete, lives could be changed for generations.

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