My America: An editorial
Disclaimer: Just so everyone knows, this is going to be a political post. If you have been following this blog you may have noticed that I try my best to avoid politics at all cost, But there are some things that I feel that God has put on my heart. For those who read this blog that are international and American, I do have some things for you to think about doing towards the end of the article. I also want to say that I may say somethings that people do not agree with me on, so I am going to attempt to tread lightly to avoid any backlash directed at me. This being said, I welcome any other opinions to initiate discussion, within this discussion (if it happens), I want the people that comment to treat each other with respect, because we are all humans here. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this article.
I want to start this article with a speech that I was going to say after the election. It is kind of long so be warned.
I'm Scared too
People of America, I feel obligated to share what I am going to share, I know that Donald Trump was an unexpected win, But you all just need to chill out. I know that you are scared, I am scared too, but that dosen’t mean that you can go around tearing apart the nation left and right. It also dosen’t mean that you can go on ruining your relationships.
You all need to realize that the election happened and there is really honestly not a lot you can do about that. Rioting is not the best way to show how you feel about it. This country is a democracy and the people chose who they felt would be better for running this country.
I am going to say straight up, I am not pro Trump or Hillary. I am pro democracy and people living together in harmony. I am pro unity, and Pro love, and everything that makes America different then all over the world.
There are countries all over the world that do not have what we have. You should be grateful that you are able to freaking vote, and have a say in what goes on up at capital hill.
I don’t care that you are either a democrat, republican, Libertarian, or whatever party you support.
I only care that when it comes to those elections, like this one, that you are able to support the president elect, no matter what party, or religion they are. No matter what they support, or even what Political experience they have. They will still serve there country in the best possible way.
Even though I’m scared about where this country is going, where it is right now even, I trust that President - Elect Trump will do the best he can to run this country in the best possible way, even though we are in a time of more division then we could ever imagine.
Lets face it this country is broken right now. There are wounds that are still active, there are also wounds that have healed, but now are reopening. This country is broken because even though we are one nation under God, we are still divided even more then we could imagine. This country is broken because people are burning the flag in protest over an election that happened 2 DAYS AGO. This country is broken because people are splitting off relationships just because of politics. But like the wounds in the past, these wounds will heal in time.
These wounds will heal. I promise you, I hope in this lifetime, but probably the next and even beyond that. Look at the last several years especially after 9/11 (Yeah I brought that up). Our country has gotten stronger from that time of tribulation. Since then New York has rebuilt its skyline in a way that it was way better then when the twin towers where hit. Looking at the rebuilding after Katrina, and many other examples.
Even though I am scared too, I am looking at Americas narrative and realizing that even though America has got her scars, she has come back in more ways than one, so why not this time.
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Like I said, there are some strong opinions that were brought up, and I apologize if this offended the reader and to be honest, even though the election occurred 3 months ago, people are still sour about the result, and their Opinions have grown Stronger and stronger, and then they get more and more angry and then tear up the streets all over America. Before anybody says anything, I do know that there are some non - Violent protests going on and to give a couple of examples, the gathering in and around Grant Park in Chicago, I did see some going on in Los Angeles. This has also opened up the idea that nobody is able to have an open discussion with a different political party because the feelings are so strong. I am scared about where this is going and Looking to the past to get some examples and none of them led to anything good.
The biggest one that stands out the most is Slavery in and around 1860. This escalated to one of the bloodiest conflicts in American history: the Civil War. Brother turned against brother, friend turned against friend, Husband and wife turned against each other. Does this sound familiar to any of you? This is happening now, and though I hate to admit it, I feel like we are in a Cold Civil War right now. You want to know the sides? Red and blue (For those who are International, Republican and Democrat).
What do I mean by a Cold Civil War? I mean that there is no physical altercation going on between Red and Blue. However, There is a war of many words going on between the two parties right now. So bad in fact that around the dinner table, people cannot talk to each other about really anything beyond sports, the weather, and just news about what is going on each day in our lives. It rarely gets deeper than that, then sometimes when it does, arguments ensue, putting a sour taste in the food, wrecking the evening. I have not seen more people unfriending people on Facebook because of political views than now. I do know that it has happened to me once. I am not going to lie, I have unfollowed people on Facebook because of some of their comments on certain things.
I do have a couple ideas onto why people are so salty lately (For older people, salty means slightly ticked off). One of the major reasons why people are salty (in my opinion) lately is the fact that news coverage only talks about the negative stuff. If people are rioting, the outlets take that to their advantage because ratings. This also results in giving people attention for something that they did when attention is what they wanted. A couple of examples of this in play include Sandy hook, Columbine, San Bernardo shooting, more recently the shooting at the mosque, and a shooting at a church. That is only a couple of Political examples of people getting attention. Another reason that people are salty has to do with social media (click here for virtual reality). People feel like they could get away with anything because social media is an outlet where you can put your thoughts out there, hoping that they would be able to find people with similar beliefs. Now I am going to look at a couple of things that I dream about that could change the direction that America is heading, resulting in the name of this article is where I get the title
I want to start this article with a speech that I was going to say after the election. It is kind of long so be warned.
I'm Scared too
People of America, I feel obligated to share what I am going to share, I know that Donald Trump was an unexpected win, But you all just need to chill out. I know that you are scared, I am scared too, but that dosen’t mean that you can go around tearing apart the nation left and right. It also dosen’t mean that you can go on ruining your relationships.
You all need to realize that the election happened and there is really honestly not a lot you can do about that. Rioting is not the best way to show how you feel about it. This country is a democracy and the people chose who they felt would be better for running this country.
I am going to say straight up, I am not pro Trump or Hillary. I am pro democracy and people living together in harmony. I am pro unity, and Pro love, and everything that makes America different then all over the world.
There are countries all over the world that do not have what we have. You should be grateful that you are able to freaking vote, and have a say in what goes on up at capital hill.
I don’t care that you are either a democrat, republican, Libertarian, or whatever party you support.
I only care that when it comes to those elections, like this one, that you are able to support the president elect, no matter what party, or religion they are. No matter what they support, or even what Political experience they have. They will still serve there country in the best possible way.
Even though I’m scared about where this country is going, where it is right now even, I trust that President - Elect Trump will do the best he can to run this country in the best possible way, even though we are in a time of more division then we could ever imagine.
Lets face it this country is broken right now. There are wounds that are still active, there are also wounds that have healed, but now are reopening. This country is broken because even though we are one nation under God, we are still divided even more then we could imagine. This country is broken because people are burning the flag in protest over an election that happened 2 DAYS AGO. This country is broken because people are splitting off relationships just because of politics. But like the wounds in the past, these wounds will heal in time.
These wounds will heal. I promise you, I hope in this lifetime, but probably the next and even beyond that. Look at the last several years especially after 9/11 (Yeah I brought that up). Our country has gotten stronger from that time of tribulation. Since then New York has rebuilt its skyline in a way that it was way better then when the twin towers where hit. Looking at the rebuilding after Katrina, and many other examples.
Even though I am scared too, I am looking at Americas narrative and realizing that even though America has got her scars, she has come back in more ways than one, so why not this time.
__________________________________________________
Like I said, there are some strong opinions that were brought up, and I apologize if this offended the reader and to be honest, even though the election occurred 3 months ago, people are still sour about the result, and their Opinions have grown Stronger and stronger, and then they get more and more angry and then tear up the streets all over America. Before anybody says anything, I do know that there are some non - Violent protests going on and to give a couple of examples, the gathering in and around Grant Park in Chicago, I did see some going on in Los Angeles. This has also opened up the idea that nobody is able to have an open discussion with a different political party because the feelings are so strong. I am scared about where this is going and Looking to the past to get some examples and none of them led to anything good.
The biggest one that stands out the most is Slavery in and around 1860. This escalated to one of the bloodiest conflicts in American history: the Civil War. Brother turned against brother, friend turned against friend, Husband and wife turned against each other. Does this sound familiar to any of you? This is happening now, and though I hate to admit it, I feel like we are in a Cold Civil War right now. You want to know the sides? Red and blue (For those who are International, Republican and Democrat).
What do I mean by a Cold Civil War? I mean that there is no physical altercation going on between Red and Blue. However, There is a war of many words going on between the two parties right now. So bad in fact that around the dinner table, people cannot talk to each other about really anything beyond sports, the weather, and just news about what is going on each day in our lives. It rarely gets deeper than that, then sometimes when it does, arguments ensue, putting a sour taste in the food, wrecking the evening. I have not seen more people unfriending people on Facebook because of political views than now. I do know that it has happened to me once. I am not going to lie, I have unfollowed people on Facebook because of some of their comments on certain things.
I do have a couple ideas onto why people are so salty lately (For older people, salty means slightly ticked off). One of the major reasons why people are salty (in my opinion) lately is the fact that news coverage only talks about the negative stuff. If people are rioting, the outlets take that to their advantage because ratings. This also results in giving people attention for something that they did when attention is what they wanted. A couple of examples of this in play include Sandy hook, Columbine, San Bernardo shooting, more recently the shooting at the mosque, and a shooting at a church. That is only a couple of Political examples of people getting attention. Another reason that people are salty has to do with social media (click here for virtual reality). People feel like they could get away with anything because social media is an outlet where you can put your thoughts out there, hoping that they would be able to find people with similar beliefs. Now I am going to look at a couple of things that I dream about that could change the direction that America is heading, resulting in the name of this article is where I get the title
I dream of an America the Practises Being more open to different opinions.
The first thing that I dream we could do within America is be more open when it comes to political discussions. This can be done in a couple of ways that one can change the direction. Lets face it, no 2 people have the exact same opinion on any given topic. This is shown best by the example of sitting around the dinner table. Another example of this being a way to help In our given state is to just practice listening first and then talking. I have had to do this in my Plant Pathology course and even though I do not necessarily agree with everything that is said in our discussions, I listen and then attempt to put my opinion on the table even though I am in the minority, bracing for what people are going to say. This honestly results in me getting ignored for the rest of the class, and thus showing that civil political conversation cannot be had in this Cold Civil War.
I dream of an America that Doesn't judge you based on your political opinions.
This is really a tough thing to do, because more recently I have been receiving more and more backlash from my peers for being a Christian, including a professor, who I do not want to name because they are a great Professor. I do know that they may be profiling the Christian Faith based on the fact that there is a general negative vibe around Christians. Another couple of examples in this include Abortion and Gay Marriage. In my own life I have a generally different perspective than my dad on one of these, which resulted in an outburst, which I understood where he was coming from.I Dream of an America that has at least somewhat balanced news coverage.
(See above)I dream of a race free America
Yeah, I just said that. The first thing that people notice about other people is the color of their skin, which even though there is no way that you could not notice that someone is a different color, but that should not define how you feel about the person. I have several friends that are different then me in nation of origin, but that really doesn't change how I view them. I heard that A general rule of thumb before deciding whether or not you should hang out with them is to meet with them in a casual setting four or five times, before making an official judgment. I do know that this is really hard to do given the way that some people have been raised. This also could vary based on where you were raised.
I dream of the First Amendment
For those of you that have taken or are taking a Government class, you go through the Constitution. The first amendment reads "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of region or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably to assemble...." (Law.cornell.edu). Those who have been reading this entire article may be confused by the fact that I am including this in this article, because I did mention some stuff about people protesting the president. I will expand on this right now. I will start with the first part. The first part talks about Religion, and how it applies to Government. It says that the government cannot prevent the establishment of a religion. I will say this straight up, Most Muslims are not extremists, I will say, however, that it is OK to have some measures to prevent Extremism from entering the USA. As a matter a fact, Most Muslims were upset about the twin towers. Freedom of speech is talking about the freedom to question, which most people are getting shot down when they are defending their own opinions. The press is a tricky one because some times the press pushes topics when it is obvious that the person doesn't want to talk about it, but sometime the press twists the persons words around to frame the person for saying what they didn't. The right for people to assemble is self explanatory.I dream of 'One nation under God'
This one is self explanatory, even though we have different opinions, we are still Americans. Getting this divided (to the point of a Cold Civil War) over one election is really just stupid. If you are one of the people that is still sour after this election, I am honestly glad that who you voted for didn't win, because you would be a honestly sore winner. Like I said before in the almost speech, I did not vote for any of the main candidates, because I felt like they don't represent me very well.
The final thing that I feel like we can do is Pray for unity
For you all that are international readers, this is where I am going to put a prayer request from all of us in the US. Pray for unity, pray for our leaders, pray for everyone that lives here that things will not escalate much further.
Note: If I offended anyone with this article, I am sorry. I just wear my emotions on my sleeves. I welcome any additional Comments, and I want you all to share your thoughts on this.
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-If you made it all the way to the end, Congratulations! I know that this was a long article and it was about politics.
-Just a reminder TIU 360 is coming up shortly, so I recommend that you check it out!
- Thank you for reading my lone political post in the history of this Blog. I tried to be unbiased although I don't think I did it well.
-Please pray for America it is much appreciated