On one of the pickleball pages I visit I saw somebody complain when somebody else brought up politics. The person wrote, “Please don’t bring up politics here.” To which the other person replied, “Everything is political.”

That’s one of those statements that sounds deep, maybe even a little intimidating — like something you nod at while quietly wondering, “Wait … everything?”

I decided to delve into this a bit.

First, there’s a grain of truth in it. A lot of things in life can become political if you zoom out far enough.

Pickleball is a good example. Courts don’t magically appear. Cities decide where to build them. Budgets determine how many. Noise complaints can lead to regulations. Even scheduling — who gets court time and when — can turn into a mini-soap opera. I’ve experienced this firsthand in helping turn the local high school tennis courts into pickleball courts.

So yeah, if you follow the chain far enough, pretty much anything can be made political.

But here’s the key point: That doesn’t mean everything is political all the time.

For instance, when you step onto the court, you’re not thinking about zoning laws or municipal budgets. You’re thinking:

“Don’t hit it to the big guy’s forehand again … seriously, stop doing that.”

You’re moving. You’re laughing. You’re connecting with people. You’re getting a little exercise, a little bonding, and maybe a little humbled by someone 20 years older who just schooled you with soft hands and perfect placement.

That’s not being political. That’s being human.

What’s really happening is that some people choose to view the world through a political lens all the time. Once they do that, everything starts to look political: sports, hobbies, conversations, what you watch on TV, even a friendly game of pickleball or chess or whatever.

That’s a choice, not a requirement. Modern politics tends to divide. The social and mainstream media need to make profits and to do that they like to stir the pot, fire up our fight-or-flight instincts. It gets clicks and views. Media has always had the “if it bleeds it leads” motto. And, fear sells. However, we the people need to take that into account.

Ideally, we remember that despite our differences we are more alike than different. Heck, we basically all have 99.9% of the same DNA. It’s been like that for hundreds of thousands of years. We all also share common goals: to house and feed our loved ones, to be productive and contribute to our little part of the world. We all do better when we try to get along with each other.

Most of life is lived in the little personal moments: just hanging out with friends, hugging your loved ones, walking your dog, bird watching, Netflix and chilling, putting the kids to bed, cooking dinner, sharing a meal with family and friends, hitting that game winning home run in the big playoff game, just sitting doing nothing except watching the world go by, getting a good night’s sleep. You get my drift.

So, is everything political? Nah. Not unless you insist on forcing the issue.

Quite frankly, from the health and happiness point of view, it’s better to concentrate on the non-political stuff and focus our attention on the matters we can control: how we act toward others and how we can make our little part of the world better.

John Zakour lives in Geneva. He is a freelance humor writer with a bachelor’s in computer science from SUNY Potsdam and a master’s in human behavior. He is a chief happiness practitioner. He writes his own syndicated comic, “Working Daze,” which has anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 daily readers. Contact him at johnzakour@gmail.com, or check out his blog at workingdaze.blogspot.com.

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