America, the Divided
This was written in between July 2020 and January 2021. Six months of events which place this country at risk of existential collapse.
At this point in history, it would seem we are in need of a renewed commitment to the shared values we define as “American”. Shared values that we can agree with and believe in. Values that bring us together rather than rip us apart. Today, even the word “America” seems to tear at the fabric of who we are. America is the land of the free, the land of opportunity, the home of the brave, the birthplace of Democracy. Yet at the same time it is the land of an enslaved mass, a land where there is only opportunity for a select few, the home of a forgotten people, and a testing ground of an increasingly failed experiment known as democracy. America can be associated to a damning past which divorces the concept of any future of optimism. While this is our home, and all that we might know of, many of us are not proud to be labeled, American. Many of us, feel trapped in a deep canyon of philosophical differences, historical interpretations, and systematic division.
Only by association, were we a part of a past that imported and enslaved a people and committed genocide of a native culture. Only by association, were we a part of the past that created large inequalities between gender, race, and class. Only by association, were we a part of building a criminal justice system that sees the color of your skin, your appearance, your neighborhood as the grounds for one’s guilt. Only by association, were we a part of building a system that is structured on wealth and profits over one’s health, happiness and wellness. Many of us want no part of this America. All of this is apart of its past. All of this is apart of its present. All of this, without massive reformation, will undoubtedly be apart of its future. There is no keeping America great. Because, quite honestly, it was NEVER great in its execution, only in the realm of abstract ideals.
We need a new set of values to guide us as a country. The values of Freedom and Equality are a conundrum. We can’t have both and arguably we can’t have either. These values form the divide we find ourselves in. Those that believe we are a free people with the will to invoke harm on anyone else. Those that believe we are only apart of a collective mass that should invoke its will on everyone else. They are the hallmark of our debates and the reason we can’t find a common ground.
To build a fair and just society, we need to start with Equality. We must acknowledge that today — we are bitterly divided — possibly beyond repair.
To build a fair and just society, we must be acknowledge that today — we are doomed by the mistakes of our past. We must acknowledge that today — we are NOT EQUAL.
Only upon doing this may we begin to reconcile our past, form a more equal, more perfect union. Only upon this can we even begin to think about what it means to be free to pursue our individual happiness.
To form a positive future for this culture we must focus not on what make us American, but rather what might make us more United as a People.
