When the Packers took on the Cowboys in Dallas this weekend, the game was what you might expect.

Two people in the crowd, seen laughing together as they watched the rival teams clash, might not have been what you’d expect. 

Ellen Degeneres and George W. Bush spent Sunday afternoon’s game seated next to each other in a suite at AT&T Stadium. It didn’t take long for people to notice and have opinions about the unlikely pair—one a liberal lesbian comedian, the other a conservative former US president.

How could two such opposite people possibly seem to be having a good time together? 

In a word: kindness. 

In Tuesday’s talk show, Ellen addressed the buzz surrounding the pair, who were both guests of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his family at the game. 

“During the game, they showed a shot of George and me laughing together, and people were upset,” Ellen told the audience. “They thought why is a gay, Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president?” 

Her simple answer is one many of us, so caught up in a culture marred by divisiveness and bitter judgment, need to hear: 

“Here’s the thing, I’m friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have. We’re all different and I think that we’ve forgotten that that’s OK.” 

She continued, “You can be friends with people you disagree with. You can spend time with people who live a lifestyle opposite of your own. You can be kind, always.” 

And isn’t that it? You can be kind, always. Period.

Ellen posted the monologue on her Twitter account Tuesday: 

Yes, that was me at the Cowboys game with George W. Bush over the weekend. Here’s the whole story. pic.twitter.com/AYiwY5gTIS

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) October 8, 2019

To your neighbor who votes the other side of the ticket. To the cashier who gives you the wrong change when you’re already having a bad day. To the Facebook friend who shares opposing views. 

“Just because I don’t agree with someone on everything doesn’t mean that I’m not going to be friends with them. When I say be kind to one another, I don’t mean only the people that think the same way that you do,” Ellen said.

And when we all get to see that kindness in living color, like we did on Sunday in Dallas from Ellen and George W. Bush? It’s so refreshing. 

HAHAHA Ellen and George Bush together makes me have faith in America again https://t.co/LMWYhwVy10

— Matt 🍤 (@Matthew_Oooo) October 7, 2019