I spent last Saturday, as I have most weekends the last three autumns, watching a cavalcade of bands competition.

It got me thinking about the role music played in my life, as well as the kid’s, and how lucky we both have been to have it.

For some, music is just something they did back in school. For me, it was, and is, a part of my life. From that moment in third grade when I first picked up a trumpet, and before that, to be honest, music has been a companion, an escape, a challenge and an opportunity.

I play to this day. Some of my closest friends through the years are people I met in bands. Music has helped me meet people all over the world and experience things I never could have imagined. 

When the kid pursued music, I had the opportunity to relive all of that through her. I watched her grow, make memories of her own, pick up new instruments, put herself out there, challenged herself, learned leadership and excelled.

She’s a joy to watch, she truly has a talent that I did not — what was work for me comes much easier for her. I have no doubt, like me, whatever she chooses to do, music will always be a part of her life.

There are a lot of people who go into making that happen, starting with supportive parents, but much of it falls on the teachers she has had along the way. Her school district is blessed with talented and caring music teachers, and is well supported. The result is the music program is something the students want to be a part of.

Obviously, schools face a lot of challenges these days. Scheduling trends have taken a toll. Cheerleader and sports programs vie for students’ time. Sometimes, it is just a matter of the quality of the teacher. Looking at some of the competitions we go to, some schools are lucky to field 20 students, and it often isn’t a matter of the size of the district.

I’m always surprised, for example, when I go back to the high school I attended — it used to have a band of over 100 people. Granted, we didn’t have football when I was a student, but many of us also took part in other activities. Today, that band is a fraction of the size it used to be. At the district honor band concert I attended last year, my high school wasn’t represented. In my day, we could send five to ten students. True, it has been nearly 30 years, but the difference is shocking.

It’s the same at the college level. When Shippensburg University put on an exhibition at one of the competitions earlier this year, the band it fielded was 170-strong, all volunteering for the love of it. Shippensburg does not have a music major. The flip side? In my time, my college band probably had about 50 — not huge, but substantial. When I was at homecoming this year, I counted 13. Thirteen.

I cannot understate the importance music has played in my life, both in my youth and to this day. The same goes for the kid. Many find it easy to dismiss music from the curriculum, or from our futures, because “you can’t make a living doing that.” That’s wrong minded.

There are many applications for music as a profession that are not limited to teaching or performing, but as important, school is as much about the experience as it is about what is in the books. All those things I mentioned music has given to me it gives to all who take it seriously, and we are better people for it.

My plea for parents and educators — support your music programs. If you have a good one, be thankful and reward those teachers. If your music department is wanting, give it the resources it needs to succeed. The return on that investment lasts a lifetime.

With primary season fast approaching, arm and arm with the holidays, there is little we can do to avoid the onslaught of polarizing political pontification at our tables, on our televisions, on our feeds and in our lives.

One thing I can tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, there won’t be many minds changed.

We often hear we are more divided than any time in our history. Well, that’s modern-day claptrap, even if there are more than a few out there who are calling for a civil war.

But it is true many politicians and pundits, and even the everyday social media jockies who feel compelled to inflict ideas and memes on the masses, are moving the conversation further to the extremes. Critical thought and pragmatism are not in fashion.

David Brinkley once claimed everyone was entitled to his opinion, today that seems to go for anybody with a Facebook account. We tell athletes and celebrities who use their platforms for political purposes to keep it to themselves and “stay in their lane,” yet we seem disinclined to apply those standards to ourselves. Once upon a time, politics and religion were to be politely kept to oneself and respected, today, it is far more important to bludgeon each other with our beliefs.

Subjecting others to our convictions is now a right, and it’s someone else’s fault if they are offended. They’re “snowflakes.” People feel justified refusing services because of a bumper sticker or a hat, or acting like victims because others get annoyed at having opinions foisted in their faces. Folks act repugnantly, then have the gall to act put upon when they get blocked and lose friends.

Opinions become a matter of black and white. Right and wrong. Because everyone believes they are the norm, all right-thinking people need to think like they do, others must be taught to toe the line. “Elites” cannot be trusted if they question core beliefs. “Science” cannot be trusted if its facts are at odds with “alternative facts.” “Media” cannot be trusted if reporting doesn’t jive with the marching orders of pundits who stir the pot and fill the network coffers.

Politics is no longer about thought, but dogma — faith trumping fact — with one party always right, and the other not only wrong, but evil. Faith is blindly given to candidates with the correct letter following their name. Anyone who disagrees is with “the enemy,” and the thought someone could find both sides unpalatable is beyond comprehension.

If we’ve reached a point that we cannot highlight the flaws in our politicians because our support for them is so fervent, we are in a dangerous place. The problem isn’t in thinking the other guy is corrupt, the problem lies in not believing your guy is corrupt. That leads to fanaticism. There is a stark difference between being unconvinced by an argument and refusing to listen to an argument.

Certainly, there are fanatics on both sides who feel the need to evangelize for their point of view, and in their perfect world, would impose their morality on society. For some, there is a joy in provoking anger, no matter the collateral damage. And no doubt, folks on the right and left have significantly different ideas on some issues. No amount of yelling and screaming across the holiday table, no amount of angry posting on social media is going to change any of that.

But most aren’t extremists. Fears about the economy, the loss of jobs overseas, involvement in endless wars — there is commonality there. In Trump, some saw a opportunity to bring a change in thinking to Washington. That may or may not have worked out as they had hoped. But as Andrew Yang points out on the campaign trail, Trump got many of the problems right, even if, for many, he got the solutions wrong. Many who support the progressive agenda are grappling with similar issues.

Recognizing that will go a long way to helping us weather the polarization storm. We don’t all have to think alike, we just need to not be an imbecile. Approaching what we say and post with a bit of civility could preserve a friendship or keep the family on speaking terms. It might even keep the holiday heartburn at bay.