I don't normally like to write about politics, particularly in today's climate. Rather than talk about my political views and the reasons I have them, it's the growing sense of strong division that both interests and troubles me. I often refer to this as a rabid sports fan mentality - it's the notion that one person or thing is better than another, the better one is number one, the lesser sucks and is everything bad. It's troubling how close minded people can be. Why is it too often that a strong opinion and a narrow mind are such good friends?
Sometimes it's tough to remain neutral, but neutral is a common ground area where we can live in peace - even if just for a moment. Gather up enough moments of peace and maybe, just maybe we can arrive at a peaceful way of life. We know enough by now, in this age of technology, that we should be celebrating our differences as human beings and learning from them, and from one another.
Today is Election Day, and I'm grateful to live in a country in which I have the freedom to speak up, to cast a vote and have a say in things. But the fact that I was born here and have lived here all of my life, does not automatically make me superior to anyone who was born somewhere else. I don't believe that genuine pride in something or someone, is a pass to claim I'm superior to anyone simply because I was born here. I also don't believe that simply because someone is different than I am, that they are inferior - we're one race: HUMAN. We're all in this together, we all need each other - now more than ever. The trouble is, we seem to get further and further away from the good we could be doing ourselves collectively - as a whole.
Humanity has allowed some horrific things to happen - not acts of God, acts of man. Mankind has done some terrible things to its own. We collectively get less inclined to try things that could work for the good of all of us, or at least more of us - and let's face it: some of us are seriously in need of all kinds of help. These problems we're facing are ours collectively, yet more and more, they get passed off to specific groups of people, the groups of people are put down and declared inferior. We're all on this ride together, this is our journey and what happens to any one of us, can - and does, happen to all of us. None of us are getting off of this ride alive.
We've reached a point where we assume because of any political party, because of anything we disagree upon, and it costs us more by the minute. Wars are not sporting events - no one wins. Maybe I'm being too vague here - but I don't want to give thought to being on one side or another on this day. I know how I will be voting, and I know why. What I don't know, is how we can't collectively see the harm we're doing one another and why we get further away from taking care of ourselves, and more divided every day. More. Not less.
There isn't one of us on this planet who is always right - although I'm pretty sure my grandmother was always right. If she ever was wrong, it was never in front of me. I believe we know enough to change things and fix things. I believe our environment shapes us, our opinions and beliefs - but I also believe that we each have a personal responsibility to examine our beliefs and opinions and alter them if need be - as opposed to holding onto them simply because we've had them all, or most of our lives. Shouldn't we each consider the possibility that any given belief we have could be wrong, and that maybe there is another way we would do well to look at? Where did we get our belief system? How do we form our own opinions? If the source of my beliefs and opinions is flawed, then what does that say about those beliefs and opinions? If any of them are hurting other human beings, or have the serious potential to do that, can they ultimately be good for me?
We're becoming much too good at lashing out at one another, when we should be reaching out to one another. If you're reading this with the assumption that I'm saying my political beliefs and opinions are a certain way, you're missing the point - because it's not politics that I'm thinking so much of on this Election Day, but rather the growing division of us all. I love this country, but I don't think that realizing there are things that we should examine, revise and fix means I'm not patriotic. I also don't think being patriotic means to hold the opinion that anyone who isn't born here is inferior to anyone else simply by virtue of where they happen to have been born.
So I'm heading to the polls today - and I hope you are too. Never mind the boxes I'll check for the moment, never mind my spiritual beliefs - my concern is with a system that dictates one has to be one or another, and that any side - including the one I choose to stand on, is always better in every way. We need to examine and discuss more, to find our common ground. My heart is heavy when I think of some of the terrible things that hide behind a bible, a cross and yes, a flag. We're one race: Human. We need one another now, perhaps more than ever - and that's probably always been the case. My concern is that now we're heading towards a greater divide, one which pulls us apart - and stops us from being our collective best. Peace, good people.
CRO
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