Hate

Ugh.

Today is an important day. Yes, the election is today. Please go vote. Tomorrow is more important. Tomorrow is the first day we, as a people, as a country, can start to heal. It seems that people on either side hate the other side. How could they support this person? How can they stand for these values? Do they not care about the future of the country? Pretty much everybody cares about the future of this country. Since day one people have cared about the future of the country.

It's important to remember that the United States has always been a country of immigrants. People came here for religious freedom, early America then sought freedom from Great Britain. Ever since then people have immigrated to the US, we've almost always been seen as the land of opportunity, we've believed in the "American Dream" for a long time, immigrants are the lifeblood of our country. It's also important to remember all the awful things we've done as a people, from pretty much anything regarding Native Americans, to slavery, to civil rights, to women's rights, to gay rights. We still haven't completely reconciled the issues listed, we still have a ways to go, but it's important that we try every day to make life better for all.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence. Even with it's minor faults, is a beautiful statement. All of us are equal. All of us have the right to life. All of us have the right liberty. All of us have the right to pursue happiness. How we do those things as a people is a little more complicated however. We all have different ideas on how to achieve the "American Dream" and that is where we stumble. Those differences drive us apart, they shouldn't, we all have the same goals, to take care of ourselves, to take care of our family, to take care of our community, and to take care of our country. Sometimes we're really good at taking care of all of those things, and sometimes we only look inward, forgetting to care and look outward.

What would the country be without "the other half"? Do you think it would be a better place? A less diverse country, less ideas being mixed into the pot. Challenging each other makes us stronger but we must challenge each other with respect and dignity. Nobody here is the enemy, we are all Americans.

I grew up learning hate is a strong word, use dislike instead. How can such a simple word change make such a fucking difference? Because it carries weight behind it, it's not just a word, it's an complex idea carrying many negative emotions. I try to never hate, it's really hard sometimes trying to accept and respect what you might want to hate is important. We all want the best for ourselves, for our families, for our communities, and for our country. If we all want to best then we probably have a good reason to support an idea, even if that reason may be flawed. Open your mind, look at it from their point of view, respectfully explain your point of view, open their mind, it's OK to disagree but you both must agree to disagree and still respect each other, never hate each other.

Maybe we'll be fine, maybe we'll snap out of our hateful trance once the election results come in. But hate builds over time, and it takes even longer to heal hate. We're all in this together, we are able to come together when our family is at risk, when our community is in danger, and when our country is under attack. I think we are under attack again, from hate, from ourselves, we need to come together again. Tomorrow is day one.