It's about time we dropped the hate and fear and got this country rolling again
Dear Fellow Americans,
As I stand in the dawning light of a new year, I find myself looking into the fog of the coming days, but I am filled with hope for a new America. I hold hope for a revolution of spirit and compassion instead of violence and degradation as we take our country forward to the bright horizon of tomorrow.
I dream of the possibility that every citizen holds in their heart the values of love and reason for not only their neighbor, but all members of this great experiment we call a democracy. I dream of a day when we are not divided by fear or by a longing for a past that never was. I hope for a new America, a great America, a nation that once again stands as a beacon of light to the world.
It is within our grasp brothers and sisters. The task before us is daunting and many of us will be afraid to be the first to step forward in 2014 to do our part. We look around ourselves and see a nation infected with greed, neglect and division. Some say we are more divided today than at any time in our history, including the civil war; that observation is easy to believe.
We live in a wondrous and terrifying world that our founding fathers could never imagine. We read the thoughts and opinions of our friends and family on social media. It would seem that we are in fact a nation divided brother against brother, parent against child. Our hearts are filled with pain because we feel like we’re losing those who are most dear to us in a battle that will have no victor.
We are despondent when we read the jubilant approval of ridiculous opinions or poorly supported arguments which oppose our own and we withdraw a little more every time. Each time we hear the roaring crowds of rallies approving fear and blame, we feel the light of liberty inside ourselves dim just a little more and we feel just a little more alone in a nation of strangers.
That is what the darkness wants. That loss of hope, the dimming light of liberty that lives in each of us. We have forgotten the one undeniable fact that made this nation great; we are all brothers and sisters under one flag, under one idea and that idea IS America. We hear the words from those that oppose us but we do not hear the meaning.
We scoff at their ideas as if we were the only ones with the right answer. That is what the darkness wants. Above all else the darkness does not want us to take our brothers and sisters hand in ours and say to them “Let’s work together. Together we can rebuild this nation from the ashes of despair.”
Corporations, greed, fairness and justice are not necessarily the problem. We, the American people who have become so wrapped up in pointless and meaningless arguments are the problem. We live in a nation where each and every one of us can stand up and let our voice be heard, yet we rarely have the time or the ambition because all of our efforts have been pushed into opposing “them”.
I call for each and every one of us to do that one thing that can make America better. Do you want more American jobs? Then take the time to look on the box of the products you’re buying and buy as many things that are made in America as you can. Are you offended that corporations are writing tax laws to exempt themselves? Then contact your congressional and senate representative. Write them a letter. Take the time to let them hear your voice.
Do you want your children to have a better education? Take time to interact with them, talk to their teachers as an ally and not as an opponent. Take time to share what you know with your children and they will remember it more than anything they learn in school. Teach them to think for themselves and value their opinion.
The next great American Revolution will not come with guns and blood, but with each and every American doing their part, working together to make this a great nation. Get involved and stay involved in your local community and communicate with your elected officials. Listen to those with opposing views and have a conversation about it and when you do, remember that the surest way to get someone to stop listening to you is to ridicule their point of view.
The only other option is for us to continue doing nothing. We have spent decades devouring the mindless pabulum of reality shows and “news” provided as entertainment. We have become complacent, but worse yet we have found someone else to blame. “They” are not the problem. We shall stay a divided nation until that day when we decide that hate, fear and ignorance are the enemies of freedom and liberty and we take the necessary steps to replace it with acceptance, understanding and reason. This war cannot be won by force but by honest compassion.
Frankly speaking, we’re better than this and we can prove it. I, for one, intend to walk forward in 2014. How about you?
