Are you sick of it yet? I am. I am talking about divisions. Lines in the sand that people have crossed and suddenly it becomes okay to ghost them...to ignore them...to hate them.
Back in 1864 Confederate soldiers William Anderson Hatfield and Jim Vance, cousin of Devil Anse, murdered former Union soldier Asa Harmon McCoy (you should recognize those last names) because they believed McCoy shot a friend of his during the war. This started a thirty year feud between the two families, leaving 10-20 people dead.
We remember it because it was unusual for family feuds to be so bloody and enduring. Today there are even worse divisions being drawn, and unless something changes we will end up with an even bloodier result. There are so many divisions...poor vs. rich, black vs. white, legal vs. illegal, Christian vs. atheist, republican vs. democrat...and on and on. Like the proverbial pouring gas on a fire, things seem to be getting more and more ominous. Riots are getting more and more common. Hate is a disease with supposedly no cure.
Why can't we all just sit down, have a picnic, and watch some fireworks together? We could talk about our sames. Respect our differences. Accept (with humility) that we don't need to force our ideas on each other.
If we don't learn to get along the Hatfield and McCoy's feud will seem small compared to what will happen. It would be a tragedy to see this great experiment called America turn into a living hell. Take a breath and think about it America.
Amen, brother
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ReplyDeleteOne evening not so long ago, as it rained, I had a picnic of sorts drinking a beer with a few of my neighbors in the lee of a hay shed; the rain had shortened their harvest day. We'd never spontaneously gathered that way before, the four of us. It was a genuinely pleasant experience as you described: In lieu of fireworks, we watched it rain (hadn't seen that for quite a while in Palmville). We talked about what we had in common. We respected one another's differences, and wholly accepted that we didn't have to force our ideas on one another. We laughed a lot. I haven't had such a familial-feeling gathering since my relatives from the Iron Range came up here to their deer camp in mid-July.
Love this post and want to echo Joe's heartfelt Amen. Steve's example illustrates well that we can just sit down and enjoy the simple pleasures of life together. I want this idea to go viral and end up fantasizing a nonpolitical grassroots movement where people decide to gather socially with the guidelines you both are suggesting. How about it? Beer Gardens for people to rediscover the familial-feeling of life beyond politics.
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