We are voracious consumers of news in our home. We watch it. We read it. We listen to it. As I have been processing the information and opinions that have been shared over the past few months, even more so now that we are entering election season, I have felt overwhelmed. It appears that we are suffering a national identity crisis. People are angry, confused, selfish, hateful, lost. We have tossed reason aside. Heck, we don't even critically think about things beyond what we see in our Twitter, Instragram, and Facebook feeds. We have forgotten the truths that our founding fathers (and mothers) fought valiantly for. I don't look back to the beginning of our country with rose-colored glasses. They disagreed with one another passionately. Those debates are what led to the creation of a document that protects us all. What sets them apart from us today is that they could value each others differences and come together with what they had in common and what was best for the whole. They were okay to disagree with each other. They spent countless hours creating a unique document that makes us different from the rest of the world protecting each others differences and in doing so, created a commonality among us. Those beliefs cemented in our Constitution and Bill of Rights guaranteed rights and liberties and protections for all of its' citizenry. We need to look back at what we were founded upon.
When did we, as a contemporary collective, get to the place where we cannot respect someone who has different viewpoints than our own? Why are we in the place where we feel like one people group owes another or is better than another or deserves special treatment than another? When did we get to the place where we find identity only in how we are different from each other instead of what we do have in common? Why are we belittling those who have religious beliefs? Why are we saying it is okay to make people say and do and pay for things that they fundamentally disagree with? Why do different people groups claim persecution, yet go out and do that very thing to another people group? How can we be so jaded that we cannot see the pain and suffering of others, including those who are yet to be born? (We can see the value of that same thing in animals, why not humans?) Where does the rage come from where one can justify destroying other people's property and possessions that they have worked hard for? Why aren't we valuing people's efforts, we want people to honor ours? Why do we think we should get something for free at the expense of someone else's hard work? I could ask thousands of questions.
What we do have in common is that we are a part of country that is like no other in the world. Each individual is guaranteed rights under our law. No matter what gender, race, religious belief (or absence of belief), or age, or... we all have value here. We have the opportunity to pursue a life that one cannot have in a majority of the countries of the world. If we have an idea, we may pursue it freely, maximize it, create a living off of it. If we have a particular set of beliefs, we may live them out (so long as we are not infringing upon the rights of others). We have a say in the leadership above us as we vote. (We can get into leadership and government corruption another time.) We can move to wherever we please and we can go where we want to go (and as a woman, I can do that without an escort). We can gather together with like-minded individuals and we can gather with those who do life differently. The point is that we have common freedoms that treat us as equals. Unfortunately, it seems as though we are perceiving those freedoms as divisive, separating us into small groups instead of bringing us together as a nation.
Do we need a change of perspective? Do we need to focus on more than ourself? Do we need to reeducate ourselves on what our country's founding principles are? Do we simply need to sit down with someone different than us, have a cup of coffee, and begin to see their value? Instead of complaining, do we need to do something?
Lots of questions...
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