I Wonder

In all earnest i ask, why are people allowing politics to divide family, friends, neighbors? Why are people allowing hatred to sow seeds in their hearts? Why are people okay with anyone else being treated badly? How can any of this be a good thing? What will it take for the people who are making these choices to choose kindness and tolerance, love and compassion for all?

As a historian, i grow concerned, not as much about who is governing a country as i do that people are allowing that to divide them, to spew hatred. The United States has already fought two wars with its citizens fighting against and killing each other. The first war was when the US was called the Thirteen Colonies or American Colonies with Patriots against Loyalists which waged between 1775 and1783. It saw the death on both sides totalling somewhere between 32,000 to 77,000 of their two million citizens. The second war, The American Civil War with the south (the Confederacy) against the north ( the Union) waged war between 1861 and 1865 and created a death toll of between 618,000 and 750,000 of their 31 million citizens includung the then enslaved people. These wars started over issues that fostered differing opinions between the two opposing homeland sides and were fueled by anger which encouraged feelings of hatred that motivated one American to take arms against another turning into an all out war in which family and friends fought against each other with all too many of them not making it through to the resolution of the war.

Until recently, i saw those wars as history… something Americans had learned from and would not repeat. But now with all the anger and hatred being spewed, i wonder about the possibility of another Civil War that could take hold if peace amongst fellow citizens of the United States is not found… if Americans cannot come together as U.S. citizens instead of right or left wing and seek to find a peaceful path forward. And i wonder when push comes to shove is any political stand within your own country really worth dying for or can the intention of the American Forefathers (who migrated to the New World) to foster a sense of shared identity and purpose move people past left and right wing to find peace amongst the brothers and sisters of the United States of America?