At War With Ourselves

It seems these days we are at war with ourselves.

It is hard to live in prosperity and know that there are people who are hungry and homeless and so we have decided those we deem “poor” are lazy and undeserving.

It is incomprehensible that our government has been at war for all but 20 years since its inception and so we believe the lies that lead us there.

It is horrifying that murdered and missing women are ignored and that domestic violence is off the charts and so we prefer not to look.

It is unthinkable that white men with guns and a grudge could be considered terrorists and so we continue to believe the narrative that men of color should be feared.

It is too painful to admit that we have all been complicit in creating the current political divide and so we revel in our anger at the “other”.

It is overwhelming to believe that we are destroying the earth and cutting the legacy of life to our children’s children and so we blame science and its ignorance for frightening us.

We are at war with ourselves and out of that flows the war on crime, the war on poverty, the war on drugs. Out of that we refuse the wisdom of gun control. Out of that we celebrate this season in materialistic splendor while we allow human beings to beg at our border for a chance to live in peace.

It is time we stop believing the rhetoric of a “kinder gentler nation” and embody one. It is time we make peace with ourselves. Who we are and who we have been must be rectified.  There are many people cutting paths out of this nightmare. It is not too late to help. We cannot let it be too late.