For centuries civilizations have risen and they have fallen. Imagine what the world would be like today had Nazi Germany not fallen. Imagine for a moment what the outcome might have been if countries and countrymen had not put their differences aside and joined forces to defeat the horror that was Adolf Hitler and his regime? It’s a scary thought…
Our world continues to be divided in many ways over various trade and security policies, the pandemic, global warming, and the list goes on and on. However, we, as a nation, are on the brink of an identity crisis. Make no mistake about it, our enemies know this and even sow seeds of doubt and chaos to fuel us forward toward an internal struggle. 2020 has certainly been a year rife with fear, turmoil, doubt, anger, hurt, polarization, untruths, and, yes, unexpected death. Often what we see and hear in news feeds or through the grapevine is unfathomable in our great nation, and yet, it is reality fueled by extreme polarization.
Election Day is around the corner and there is a sense of anticipation unlike any that I’ve known in my lifetime. I’m sure that the same is true for a number of my generation. Some live in fear that no matter the results there will be mass chaos in many of our cities. Irrespective of the results, your political leanings, and prescribed ideology, we are all in this together. One side props up the other and where we get into trouble is when the far ends overshadow the majority who dwell in the middle way. The way that historically has served our nation well, one that helped us to rebuild after the Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and yes, even the pandemic of 1918; the middle way to balance extreme policies that serve no one but the fringe. To be clear, I’m talking about both left and right fringe ideologies.
“United we stand” is the mantra heard over and over when we talk about our nation’s history. It is how we came to be in the first place. What we know from history is that a nation divided cannot thrive. We must all rise above our tendency to compartmentalize and demonize those we see as “other”. To someone, we are all “other”. The bottom line is that there is a call greater than one individual: a call to decency, a call to recognize our similarities and overcome our differences, a call to unify so that we might thrive, a call to acceptance of each other despite our differences, and a call to denounce divisiveness. We are after all the greatest nation in the world. We are the United States of America…how about we start acting like it?
We are the sum of our parts so do your part: Vote, don’t feed into extremism (right or left), see the humanness in others irrespective of creed or skin color, denounce violence and violent rhetoric, and come together as “…one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
R.A. Grando 