Together

 

Together

By John W. Vander Velden

 

For a house divided against itself, cannot stand. (Abraham Lincoln)

 

What was it we saw unfolding before our screens last Wednesday? Was it unity? Was it a sign of compassion? An indication of understanding?

The answer to all those questions is NO!

Rather, it was an action driven by out of control people fueled by lies and hatred. People that have forgotten the important words of Abraham Lincoln, as they tried to force the will of a few upon the many.

They took up their banners and their loud shouts to divide. For blended with the misguided were those that came for one purpose. Their goal was to mold our land in a very different image than the one our founders had imagined.

So as a group they had forgotten the very thing that made our country. While shouting “Make America Great Again”, they trod on the very foundations that made this land great in the first place...UNITY!

A UNITED STATES is not made up of ONLY like thinking people. It can only exist when divergent people an ideas have the freedom to live and to speak and to vote and in the end have their vote COUNTED. Our country’s roots began in every corner of the globe. We are a diverse people from different cultures, different background, with different histories, but what we share is grander than our differences. For EACH OF US are AMERICANS!

Though each person has a voice that deserves to be heard, we must remain open to hear other points of view. We must be willing to recognize the pain, the suffering, the forced isolation, those that have been disenfranchised.

But this is not an, us against them, situation that some believe. It is a fracture of the very promise our country has offered... a promise made more than two hundred years ago. A promise that has been tested time and again. A promise, misunderstood, abused, stomped upon, that drove our country to civil war. A promise that has been difficult to keep, but is not beyond possibility.

For we must stand together, remembering what binds ALL of us, the promise of justice for all, and the opportunities to dream, and the possibility of working to achieve those dreams, are needed for everyone. ALL AMERICANS, no matter their appearance, their skin color, their family’s origins, their gender, their social status, are bound with one important strand. We belong to each other, and together we form this great country!

So it is long past time to cast aside lies that seek only to divide. Past time to thrust the invalidated conspiracy theories into the dumpster they belong. No longer should we demonize those of differing opinions...only because we do not agree with their views.

The time has come when we make the effort to reach across boundaries with our hands and our minds. That once more we stand shoulder to shoulder with our fellow countrymen and women. To tend to the deep wounds of divisions that threaten to tear the very fabric of this great nation.

Those that stormed the Capitol Wednesday were not acting to repair that fabric, but to shred it further. We must stand together and say, this is our country...not just yours. And even if we disagree, let us listen with patience, do our best to understand each other’s grievances, or we will never be able to stand unified.

Together we will stand...divided we will fall!

574 Words (January 10, 2021)