As our enemies - foreign and domestic - eagerly shred the fabric of America, I believe that there are still threads that bind us together. I’ve had the good fortune to have traveled to 45 of the 50 states in my personal and professional life. From interstates to dirt roads, deserts to swamplands, mountains to beaches, farmlands to factories. I’ve walked in volcano-fresh lava in Hawaii, eaten ocean-fresh lobsters in Maine; swum with dolphins in the Florida Keys…
3/ I crossed Texas in an ice storm, Mississippi and Alabama during a tornado outbreak. I’ve met panhandlers, multimillionaires, waitresses, contractors, lawyers, bartenders, professors, business owners, factory workers, ranchers, commercial fishermen, carpenters, preachers, teachers students, retirees, musicians, government officials, social workers, politicians, engineers, scientists, athletes, and entrepreneurs. Most were a lot like me. They got up early to go to work.
4/ They made sacrifices for their families. They yearned to provide a better life for their kids. They looked after their elderly parents. They doted in their beloved pets. They feared for loved ones in war zones. They believed in the American Dream. Their aspirations transcended geography, race, politics, and economics. A country as enormous and diverse as America could surely accommodate everyone’s dreams. Now, however, those dreams are being crushed and kicked to the curb.
5/ A political party serving foreign (and corporate) interests is dividing us, pitting us against each other, gaslighting us, and filling us with hopelessness and dread. Our “shining city on the hill” is now a cautionary tale for other nations. Can our collective decency and humanity keep our besieged republic together? Perhaps, but we will have to vote out EVERYONE who has been complicit in the American carnage that brought us to this point. Otherwise, the dream ends with us./end
@cassandra17lina Bravo, well said!
@cassandra17lina Thank you for these words.
2/I’ve watched the sunrise over alfalfa fields in Alabama, camped in the rain in the bottom of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, made enough money in a casino in Oklahoma to pay for the tire I blew out in Texas. No such luck in Louisiana, but I was grateful to contribute to the economy after Katrina. I bought amethyst crystals from a rock hound in Arkansas, collected fish fossils in Colorado, toured coal mines in North Dakota and Pennsylvania.