All this talk about the right and left not able to come to an agreement, unable to strike a balance, and trying to undermine each other’s efforts made me think of the invisible divisions between my right and left sides.  It seems sometimes that like the Biblical quote, my left hand truly has no idea what the right hand is doing. I recently was working with a student who had tennis elbow from overuse of her mouse.  She tried moving the mouse to the left side, then found herself reaching over to the left side of her computer with her right hand, and sometimes even slapping the left hand out of the way! The human being, unlike most mammals, is wired asymmetrically.  It has been suggested that humans evolved right and left handedness through battle: the right hand held the sword, the left the shield.  Nowadays, the right handed person holds the keys in the right and the groceries in the left. We don’t want to become symmetrical any more than we’d want a one party system to run our government.  But we can create harmony and cooperation by appreciating the gifts each side has to bring. If you sit quietly and slowly turn your head to the right, what turns with you?  Your eyes?  Your shoulders?  Your thoughts?  When you turn to the left, how is it different?  Does your neck feel different?  Do you see differently? One of my life’s ambitions is to stand on the floor of the House of Representatives and say, “All right everyone, now slowly gently turn right.  And now turn left.  What is your experience?”  Imagine if the two sides learned to communicate!