In light of everything that’s going on around the world and especially our nation today, I find myself becoming more and more silent.
One of the biggest privileges we have as Americans is that of compelling diversity and the rights to nourish our opinions. After all, our states are built on the hard fought efforts of citizens and those opinions. Whether it be the fight for independence, the fight for equal rights, or the fight for success. Opinions fuel the American life. There’s no doubt about that.
However, it’s becoming harder for me to tap into the nobility of these rights we hold onto. I feel as though I’ve always put our people on a pedestal (perhaps the whole world does). But my biggest struggle is trying to understand when it all got so complicated. And I can only speak for the years I’ve lived, being that it is all I know.
When there are nations at war from the inside-out, disintegrating because the lines of right and wrong are so blurred, should I rally for the humanity of innocent civilians or for the peace of our own war-weary nation? When tragedy strikes us, all I can hear are the exhortations of government conspiracies instead of the hopes and wishes for the lives we have lost. I find it immensely disheartening to know that our President has lost any and all respect from his once-followers. We simply resort to regret and remove ourselves from the supporting foundation. I’m not vouching for the community of pro-Obama — I merely state my loss in faith in our democracy. I fear that we, as Americans, have lost our way. We no longer know what is right and what is wrong. But most of all, I fear that in the midst of continuously claiming our victory as a nation united, what we really are, is alone.
A Conversation with a Stranger 