My friend Sam Harrelson posted the video of Obama's speech in Canton, Ohio from 2 days ago. No matter your affiliation, I think you should check it out here.
Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort; black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, Democrat, Republican, young, old, rich, poor, gay, straight, disabled or not. All of us have to come together.
That is my sentiment exactly. I am tired of the division that both parties exhibit and the division that we as individuals exhibit and the superiority that we feel to those who have different views than we have or who express different religious beliefs. We do not all need to be the same, but we do need to work together. We need to grow in our understanding of each other and stop relying on stereotypes that are perpetuated by our ignorance and our lack of desire to search out the truth about other parties or other religions or other people. There are plenty of issues that we can and will differ on, but there are also plenty that we shouldn't. We need to "unite in common effort" against poverty and against genocide and against imperialism and against hunger.
This is not a democratic issue or a republican issue. This is not a Christian issue or an Islamic issue. This is not an American issue or an European issue. This is a humanity issue. This is a issue that should resonate within each and every one of us because we are humans and there are fellow human beings that are suffering. We have fellow human beings who are not given the dignity that they deserve as a human. We have fellow human beings who are discriminated against because they have a certain skin color or because they have a certain belief system.
Our world certainly is not perfect and we will never see it become perfect, but that is no excuse to resign ourselves to accepting the way it is. We must not sit by while injustices prosper.
This is about you. This is about me. This is about us. All of us have to come together.
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2 comments:
I agree we should work on unity. We also need to work toward shared values that respect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However, how can we focus on big issues like genocide when we can't protect our own who have not yet been born?
As a nation, we've collectively destroyed 40 million of our own citizens through abortion. Where's the outrage at ourselves? Instead, it's become a political issue with planks in one party for the killing and the other party against the killing. Shame on us as voters for not seeing past these "issues" and failing to protect these little ones. And shame on any politician who, in an effort to garner a few votes, campaigns on positions that allow harm to come to any of these little ones.
Thomas, you definetly gave some actual meaning to his empty words. Heres my problem. We should all come together to help the hungry, poor, etc. But then we get lost in the definition of terms like "social justice". What exactly does that mean? I don't believe the government has a significant role in that, Obama does, so how I can rally around him?
Which brings up the only reason he made those comments...rally around him so he can be president.
Those words mean alot more coming from someone who doesn't have something personally to gain from it.
You know I could say more... :)
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