I have spent my life living in a wide range of diverse political climates, not once have I found myself entirely in support of the beliefs of a single other individual. I am also of the belief that when investigated no individual shares the exact belief of another. We the people have the complete freedom to choose what we believe, yet everywhere I look I have seen people mindlessly following the belief of others without coming to question their own beliefs. It is also apparent that the nation seems really divided. This lack of individuality is the root of divisiveness in our country, and it is my mindlessly following the beliefs of others that we lose what it means to be American.
America has lost its individuality; communities are now more than ever divided on political bounds. This has bred hatred and resentment among the American people. This hatred shared between Americans has happened in the past, and it has trickled all the way down to a community level. It divides families, and what is it even about? Who should be the leader of our country? What people can and cannot do? Or is it about what rights you should and should not have as Americans? The division in our nation is bound to tear us apart if we do not do something. The sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, once famously said “a house divided against itself cannot stand” yet today it seems we have not learned from the past. It has become clearer in my lifetime that the effectiveness of the democracy we have is at stake, and it has also become clear that the lack of compromise and the amount of resentment and hatred shared on every level is what is doing the damage.
America is at its weakest when the foundation of it is not stable. We the people are that very foundation. America’s greatest threat is the weaponization of its own people against it, and I can assure you that our geopolitical rivals are very thrilled to see the divisiveness of the American people. They are thrilled to see the lack of unity and lack of progress. Lincoln said in his Lyceum address, “if destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
America is at yet another crossroad in its history. We can either continue down the dark path of weakness and division that we are going though now, or we can march side by side down the wonderful path of strength and unity. Now is the time to choose. America is one of – if not the only nation – that can achieve unity and individuality. It is written in the first sentence of the constitution as “we the people” and it is when America has uniqueness and individuality amongst its people that it achieves unity and strength.
It isn’t too late. America can make a comeback. But it is up to us to reverse the damage. It is up to you and me to question what we believe. It is up to us to verify that what we hear is the truth. And it is up to us to not resort to hate. It is clear to me that mindlessly following other peoples’ beliefs and failing to question those beliefs and motives contributes to the lack of stability and unity here in America.
I have presented the options. Now it is up to you, me and our other fellow Americans to choose which path to follow.
Gavin Kayser
Boulder
