Americans have demonstrated that they are different from the rest of the world and yes, different from each other. In a most political sense but yet with a lot of common sense, Martin Luther King Jr. once said “We may all have come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” He was talking about our country and how we are struggling in dire straits. In our country there are peacemakers and war mongers. There are those who seek the high road and those who take the low road. Neither can achieve their goal unless they learn to make peace with each other or find a middle road to travel. Albert Einstein once said “Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police” I think that herein lays one of the problems we are facing today. Our trust in our government has dwindled and divided us into groups of thoughts that are based on generational barriers as our customs, practices and traditions differ from generation to generation leaving behind a legacy but rarely a common thread to hold onto. To have peace is to be content. Content to live a life with non-violence, a life to share with each other and a life to enjoy those privileges and freedoms our nation was built on back in 1776.
True peacemakers are the children of God. Children of God are divided on how to make peace. Some say if you want to make peace you must talk to the enemy [Moshe Dayan] but others say that nothing can bring peace unless you “triumph” our principles and face the truth. This often results in war and the loss of precious lives over “principles” that not all people share. Benjamin Franklin said “There never was a good war or a bad peace” and this still holds true today. Social satisfaction and resolve depends on how much we are willing to sacrifice to attain such a goal. Social advance can benefit from unity and common sense to take care of our country. We have to accept the reasons for being different for it is normal to be so. To admit we are different is a first step to acknowledgment that we can resolve our issues and be stronger as a nation.
Today, we are people of different backgrounds, customs and traditions. Our generations have split us into smaller groups easy to conquer [through ideology or other messages] or overcome as we focus on our own needs rather than the needs of all. We have developed a sense of entitlement that is based on “wants” that destroy the moral fiber of our country. We are divided in politics; we are divided in mannerism; we are divided in foods we eat; we are divided in the music we listen to; we are divided in the way we dress and we are divided the way we think.
The fact that each generation is different does not mean we should be divided and can’t get along with each other. We need to find a way to agree to disagree and yet not be so different that we can’t resolve the matter at hand. Our nation is in trouble and we must take a step forward to unite and build a new effort to regain the strength, the moral fiber and the courage that our founding fathers left us to build on and treat it with respect. The dignity of humanity’s existence is based on mutual respect and apathy kills respect for each other.
Taking people at full face value to perform with ethics is the first step. Smaller steps to turn the trend of mistrust and corruption around will take time but it is possible with the right people at the helm. The higher the ethics, the better the product to sow back our freedoms we have either lost, diluted or wasted in the past four decades. America needs to re-learn the difference between right and wrong – we are strong enough to achieve that purpose and be Americans in all for one nation, under God, indivisible and strong to stand on its own to relive where we came from and who we are. We are Americans. When you cast your vote in 2012, be an informed voter. Vote your conscience, vote your ethics, vote your morals. Don’t let greed, lust and the gluttony for power and money influence your vote? It is the only American right you have that is still intact and counts for something, our freedom.