I don't recall the Christopher thing, but it is funny to note that while Christopher Hitchens was considered a wonderful raconteur, he was also often not considered the best houseguest. There were stories of him showing up drunk and then drinking every drop of liquor he got his hands on while haranguing and insulting everybody he came in contact with. 

I'm not comparing anybody to any Christophers, but I think the general problem was people just not understanding each other. 

All I recall with the thing with E was he was using a couple of phrases like "work the ref" and something else about fighting back with the same or similar tactics as the Republicans use, and then David asked him several times what exactly he meant and whatever E said did not exactly make it clear and David did not agree with using the same tactics as Republicans. And I mean that was probably because the Republicans or MAGA or the fruit loop party or whatever we want to call them use tactics that are destructive to the country, to the process, to truth and justice, and basically to everything they come into contact with. 

Yeah, I get that Mess, E, you we're all coming from a similar place. We all want common human decency, common sense, and good will to triumph...which makes it all the more painful when we get into something heated and then it devolves. 

I know I did that once to you, I was joking, you thought I was way too harsh. I apologized, you forgave me. Yes, the jokes can get really black and acerbic. They can easily be taken the wrong way or be misunderstood. And in conversation about serious matters this happens as well. You feel you are not being understood or you are confused by something someone else says and things blow up. 

I mean, come on the Russian people and Ukrainians are like brothers and sisters, they share so much, they should not be killing each other, but here we are, and it just won't stop. The conversation about the Israelis and Palestinians here, which was where you ended up in it, that spun way out of control. The worst part was, we were all inches apart, we all wanted the killing to end, but we could not agree on how that should happen or if Joe Biden was doing the right thing. But you think as we sit here having just a conversation about it, and people end up severely disagreeing and getting upset with one another, well...it's no wonder they just keep killing each other in the Middle East. We were just talking, they are live in person watching friends, relatives, children die. Like they say, they have skin in the game. 

When it comes right down to it, right down to the very bottom of it, as people, as human beings, all we have is each other. So, we have to find a way to get along. To forgive, to heal, to trust one another.  

We are upside down with that right now, as a species, and some will say we always will be, but hate, anger, grudges, they are all heavy stones. You want to keep carrying them, do people want to keep carrying them, or do we want to put them down, shake hands and say "We can do better."