An Envisioned Stranger

Excuse the rawness of this account.
When I don't understand something, I tell it
As a story to an envisioned stranger.
A sequential, linear narrative.

Munching on a steady diet of "happy couple" tropes and Disney marriages,
You grow up thinking fighting is a bad thing,
Avoid arguments with partners,
Float through the ocean of your relationship clinging to the driftwood of your similarities,
Not realizing that opposing global perspectives are a survival mechanism
And that disagreement is a resource.
Worrying "What if we refer to the living room by different names and confuse the kids?"

Cutting someone down is actually just a reversal of empathy:
If you know what hurts you, you know what hurts her.
And suddenly the nastiest fights are the ones that follow the deepest
And most intimate understanding of each other,
Strangely from a place of love.

Assumed agreement sans communication is a silent
Gripping, manipulative, depression
On a relationship.
Even in its inherent separation,
Disagreement breeds common ground and
Sunlight streams through an open window.