Yes, we’ve had discrimination and divisions in the past. We’ve had poverty in the past. In the past, if someone didn’t like what was happening around them, they packed up and moved west. Finally, they reached the Pacific Ocean and there is no place left to go. Perhaps it is time those settlers turned around and decided that the problems they left behind need to be solved.
Solving the problems left behind when people moved west, has become much more complicated than when we were a rural agricultural society. We all are influenced by the same corporate-controlled mass media, which gets rich off of promoting controversy and strife. Our military industrial complex gets rich off of promoting fear. False prophets get rich off of promoting hate in God’s name. We are bombarded by these messages promoted to us as truth, and it is hard for those who absorb the cultural/media story to see beyond hiding behind closed doors while armed to the teeth.
I have a certain compassion for those who live with such fear and turmoil in their lives. However, those who embrace the fear, conflict and hate are also destroying the country I love.
As a fifth generation west coast resident, I still have the urge to turn and walk away from the drama. Where would I go? This is my home. What choices do people like me have?
I have a friend who is quite an intrepid and brave individual. She confessed that she has been sick over the political climate in this country. She finally concluded that the rhetoric surrounding our political situation was triggering her trauma related to her abusive marriage and divorce. Is that what we have in this country, an abusive marriage of people from different backgrounds constantly fighting over who gets what rights and resources? Is divorce the only answer?
Some days, I wonder is it time to have the discussion that terminates the United States of America? Is it time for the final amendment to our constitution that allows the separate regions to go their separate ways because of irreconcilable differences?” Separation is the easy answer. I’d like to make at least one last campaign to try to reconcile our differences.
At this time, I fully believe that if an amendment to the constitution were introduced expelling Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii from the union, some states would happily ratify that amendment. Some of our leadership would advocate for getting rid of us. Some of the false prophets would tell their faithful that God will bless them if they get rid of those sinful west coast states. Would such an amendment sound a wake-up call to those who say they love their country but will only do so on their own terms?
I don’t believe divorce is the only answer. I don’t think civil war is the answer.
I’ve seen some that advocate a civil war to make a final end to those who are different from themselves. Civil war is unthinkable.
The alternative to war or separation involves embracing a humble attempt to communicate with each other, to find common ground, and accept that different is not bad or scary. The humble approach may be too big a step for some people. We don’t need all people. We need enough people, who see the value of a Unites States, to put down their pride and say that despite our differences we will work together to accept each other as people with inalienable rights. We will approach our problems as just what they are, challenges to be solved without angst and drama. We will embrace each other as equals with equal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.