I used to be a Republican.
Then I voted Democrat.
Now?
Like many others, I am “independent”.
But sadly, like a huge number of others that are disappointed, angry and tired of being manipulated by countless emails asking me for money… or by the media… or any number of people stressing to me how important my vote is…
I am not only disappointed in my country but I am disappointed in how I am being treated.
And I don’t think that I am alone.
I still believe in the same principles that founded our nation.
Sure, things are different now… a lot different. And yes, we have to make allowances for those changes.
I don’t think that anyone disagrees that change will always happen.
But change always happened before too… and we managed to “adapt” and we didn’t lose our identity.
Now?
I’m not so sure that we even know who we are… without someone else telling us.
And I don’t like it.
I want to be able to stand on my own two feet and make my own decisions.
I am able to do that and have done it all of my life.
But now?
Apparently the two major political parties think we are unable to think for ourselves.
And we seldom hear about any other opinions … except these two.
And both have gotten shrill, unforgiving, and without room for compromise.
I find it hard to believe that almost half of our country believes that immigrants are “bad” for the country. And I find it hard to believe that a hundred mile wall will do any good at all… or keeping children away from their parents.
But on the other hand…
I am a recovering alcoholic with 40 years of sobriety. I find it incomprehensible that most people cannot forgive my actions from 40+ years ago. That is what is happening with current accusations stemming from actions that happened 20, 30 or 40 years ago. These peoples’ lives are destroyed with accusations and no proof. Simple accusations are destroying people… what ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty?” Of course, some things are wrong… but what happened to forgiveness?
Something has gone horribly wrong.
And we need to step back and take a hard look at where we are going.
Something is wrong when everyone claims to be right and everyone else is wrong.
The numbers don’t add up.
And I have a suspicion that I am not the only person that feels this way.
My sister has turned into someone that I don’t even know.
She has never been political and yet she is now.
One side is right and the other is wrong… no room for compromise, no room for error.
It makes me sad that we can’t talk any longer because she makes assumptions about what I think…what I want… what I believe… without even asking me.
I used to talk about “the good old days” a lot…because I remembered when we disagreed, but we talked, we discussed, and yeah, we yelled at each other too. But in the end… we reached a compromise.
We don’t see that happening much anymore.
Whose fault is it?
We’re all at fault… because we are like deer in the headlights and we simply don’t know what to do. One thing that I know for certain is that history always repeats itself…
…and the saying that we need to learn from the past.
But someone says ‘but this is different.”
No, it’s not.
If we want change…and we want a different system…or we want different choices…
…then it is up to us to fight for the changes that we want.
Instead of sitting back, being depressed, and complaining.
This is my way of fighting back.
I don’t like where we are going…
I don’t like what I see and I firmly believe that we have very little time to change it…
Before it is too late.
What do you think?
Am I alone?
Or are there others out there that feel the same way?
Speak up.
Thanks for reading.