The Book on Mary

My senior year in college I had a good friend who I didn't care to speak to before then.

I had only known Mary Dillon her by her politics and reputation. She was active in the college Republicans and the president of the pro-life group on campus - not a very popular position at our school. She ran for Student Association president junior year and I wouldn’t vote for her. She didn’t win.

I became friends with Mary Dillon (we always called each other by both names- I’m not sure why) the next year when she came to work at the campus TV station where I was program director. She had been a guest on our McLaughlin Group type show in the past and now she wanted to be a news reporter.

I’m sure in the beginning I was still a bit wary of her. I saw her as a prude, a Reagan era conservative. Somehow I thought that these things mattered to our life on campus. I’m sure Mary Dillon accepted me right away. That’s just the kind of person she was- kind and open, funny and hardworking. I soon found out that she wasn’t a stuck-up ideologue I had imagined but actually more fun than most people I knew in school. She was up for almost anything: a basketball game, dinner, a party. She would always have one more drink with me at the local bar if we thought a party had ended too early.

During one of those drinks I told her that I hadn’t voted for her. I don’t remember the discussion exactly, but I know she must have been a bit hurt. Of course she didn’t hold it against me. My image of her had changed so totally from a kind of scary “other” with views I found laughable or dangerous (Star Wars?, trickle down economics?) into one of my most trusted friends.

Of course I saw immediately what a great student leader she would have been. Much better than the fraternity brother who won election mostly on, well…being a fraternity brother. Mary Dillon’s political ideas would not have affected our campus too much - she wouldn’t have had the power or desire to say, remove the funding from the pro-choice group on campus. I was not alone in seeing campus politics like national politics. We didn’t want the best person for the job, but the person we agreed with the most.

I can’t help thinking of Mary Dillon and morals together. Both the kind she held and the kind she taught me. I don't mean to say she changed my mind on any topics - nor did she try to. She taught me to change how I viewed people – not politics. The real lesson here was to go a bit deeper, beyond the simple caricature you have in your head. In college they were teaching us how to become independent, questioning thinkers. From Mary Dillon I learned not to judge a book by its’ cover.