My last post was really long. I think there are a lot of things that our country has become misguided on. It makes me question my support of this country. I country I grew up learning to respect and hold up as the standard for democracy. A country that was born out of a need for freedom from tyranny and religious persecution. But it was also a country born out of the bloodshed and "right" of a lighter skinned people group over a darker skinned one. It's a country that continued to exploit and hold up the rights of the rich and powerful over the ones that were economically poor and without power. It's a power that has used and sacrificed and ignored the plight of women, people of color and those that were already here for the sake of Manifest Destiny, the U.S. dollar and because that's how it had always been done. Can I really be proud to be born into a nation that so easily throws aside the needs of the many over the selfishness of a few?
Yes, yes I can.
Because even though this country was born out of bloodshed. Even though this country was expanded and divided up and has misused people. It is a country that knows how to apologize. And it's a country where citizens can stand up and say this is wrong. We need to change things. We do not agree with the few, we need to meet the needs of the many as best we can. It is a country that has many different voices and many different opinions and there is a space for all of them to be heard. And though change comes at a cost, it can come.
Yes, this country does a lot of things wrong. The wheels of change are slow-moving. Also,
as with a lot of things, this is a complex issue that no one political viewpoint is going to fix. I believe it’s going to take social agencies, government agencies and a nonpartisan agreement to find solutions to these problems. I see the students in classrooms who do not speak English and receive a lot of necessary help in their work. I’ve also seen their parents struggle to navigate the simplest things like signing a permission slip. I've seen the vets on the side of the road asking for money because their mental illness is a continuous burden they can't navigate alone and the system is so overwhelmed. I've seen my friends of color questioned at the check out about their payments when my own was easily accepted. I've seen my female friends fret and worry and back down because they were convinced they would be dismissed as to emotional, to illogical, to much of everything because the only other leaders they had seen were men.
But that is what America great. That we can begin to see women in leadership, people of color standing up and being recognized and corrections made to a broken and flawed system. That what has continued because it was easier than making a course correction can be halted and remade into a more fair and honorable system.
Yes, yes I can.
Because even though this country was born out of bloodshed. Even though this country was expanded and divided up and has misused people. It is a country that knows how to apologize. And it's a country where citizens can stand up and say this is wrong. We need to change things. We do not agree with the few, we need to meet the needs of the many as best we can. It is a country that has many different voices and many different opinions and there is a space for all of them to be heard. And though change comes at a cost, it can come.
Yes, this country does a lot of things wrong. The wheels of change are slow-moving. Also,
as with a lot of things, this is a complex issue that no one political viewpoint is going to fix. I believe it’s going to take social agencies, government agencies and a nonpartisan agreement to find solutions to these problems. I see the students in classrooms who do not speak English and receive a lot of necessary help in their work. I’ve also seen their parents struggle to navigate the simplest things like signing a permission slip. I've seen the vets on the side of the road asking for money because their mental illness is a continuous burden they can't navigate alone and the system is so overwhelmed. I've seen my friends of color questioned at the check out about their payments when my own was easily accepted. I've seen my female friends fret and worry and back down because they were convinced they would be dismissed as to emotional, to illogical, to much of everything because the only other leaders they had seen were men.
But that is what America great. That we can begin to see women in leadership, people of color standing up and being recognized and corrections made to a broken and flawed system. That what has continued because it was easier than making a course correction can be halted and remade into a more fair and honorable system.
My part is to love. Love those weaker than me, those at the same level, those above me. My job is to love the person of color, the person with broken english. TO love those with a sexual orientation I may not have ever heard of. It's my job to love the poor, the orphan, the widow, the disenfranchised. It's also my job to love the powerful, the married, the kids with parents. Those in foster care. Those with mental illness and those without.
Love is love is love. That is how our country will change. That is why I can be proud to be an American. Because this is still a country where we are aloud to love, to reach across partisan, color, gender and sexual boundaries and love each other.
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