Participants Told Not To Talk Politics At New Friends Session

They talked about hobbies, about their favorite conversational topics, about the American dream, about their personality traits, about admired historical figures, and about family traditions.

According to the instructions, the 10 pairs of citizens gathered at the Oconee County Library on Saturday morning, and the others who joined the conversations during the following hour, were not to talk about politics.

Pat Priest, who opened the session, said politics would be set aside during the gathering, demonstrating that “we can all get along.”

The session was billed as a “community-building” event and was organized by the Oconee Progressives, a local group that has as one of its goals bringing the community together.

The session was spirited, with lots of smiles and signs of joyful interaction.

“This was really fabulous,” Andrea Wellnitz, one of the founders of the Progressives, said at the end of the session.

“I think that a lot of people shared stories,” she said. “We all have more in common, and we all have more connections, and we all have so many stories to tell, so I just really am appreciative of everybody who took the time to be here today.”

For more on the story, with a shortened video of the session on Saturday, please go to Oconee County Observations.