It has now been a week after the government shutdown and Republicans and Democrats have resorted to name calling rather than acting like mature adults and resolving the issue.

President Obama has called Republicans “reckless and irresponsible,” and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed Republicans were “legislative arsonists.” And although I personally lean towards a more Republican perspective, I still find the situation to be idiotic in that both sides refuse to hear each other’s ideas.

Lessons we were supposed to learn in preschool like getting along and not name calling have been preached and yet ignored as we get older. It seems that teenagers and adults no longer feel that the rule applies to them now that they make their own decisions in life. Or they believe that simply telling others that they are trying to cooperate and not actually doing it is acceptable.

They seem to think that obviously, “it’s not their problem that the other person refuses to get along.” Most Republicans blame the Democrats and President Obama, while the Democrats are angry with the Republicans for the shutdown.

Everyone is failing to see that by not working together, the issue isn’t being solved. This endless cycle of blame gets us nowhere.

Just because we as Liberty students don’t have a direct say about how our government handles this shutdown doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect us all the same.

We should learn a valuable skill from this: to be able to work together without erupting into petty arguments. The ability to communicate with people who have different opinions is a critical life lesson that we shouldn’t go through high school without learning.

As our generation will one day produce the next president, governors, senators and other government officials, it’s our duty for the well-being of our country to develop a wider perspective and toleration for other people.

Whether you are Democrat or Republican doesn’t matter. The shutdown is ridiculous and both Parties need to put their differences aside and solve the problem for the rest of the country.