What are we fighting for?

Like a slow boil, an erosion of cohesion is taking place across America. Emotions are strong, opinions are diverse, and discord dominates. Why? What have we become? We are America because of and in spite of our differences. Our strength lies in the fact that we do not have a dominant race but are instead an eclectic melting pot of cultural diversity. Instead of embracing that however, we have allowed it to divide us.

Recently, I’ve watched as politicians, pundits, news media, and community organizers vie for a dominant position on perhaps one of the most sensitive topics of our time – race in America. Each side carries a self-serving agenda in the hope of acquiring power to assert their will, viewpoint, or motive across the very eclectic people of America using race as the basis of their argument. And not one of us likes it.

As a nation, we have historically existed because of and in spite of the predominant diversity of our demographics. We often clash over ideals and are a passionate people when it comes to the protection of our inalienable rights as Americans. It’s not always pretty, but we find a way. Even yet, we remain one of the strongest forces on the planet among all others, some of whom may never taste the very freedoms and rights we take for granted on a daily basis. Ask anyone who has served or traveled abroad just how real that statement is and they’ll affirm it.

Keep your passions in check.

I’m a white male. I generally lean conservative when it comes to a political point of view. I’m not overly religious but operate from a highly spiritual perspective. Like you, I have opinions, viewpoints, ideals, and passions. I also have a culturally wide diversity of friends and family. Those who know me know that I don’t give one damn about the color of your skin. My opinions are based on the content of one’s character and whether or not he or she is a uniter or a divider. The best I can offer to a person of color is empathy. I have not walked in their shoes so it is true that I have no idea of the disparages they encounter. But it goes to my point that if we collectively seek truth and healing, the cultural differences will strengthen us instead of continuing to exist as an American vulnerability.

It is said that we can learn a lot about a person in the first seven seconds of meeting them. I believe that to hold true for most of us. But the ugly divide that predominates our country at this time demands a lot more time than seven seconds to come together and move past that which divides us. The key to conquering that divide is in our approach.

Agree to disagree…without decay.

Most people don’t simply want to get their way. They want to be heard and they want their opinion to be respected. It’s really that simple, because if we respect the viewpoint and opinion of others, we gain empathy. When we gain empathy, we gain insight. And when we gain insight, a powerful healing effect takes place that brings us together. Only then can we collectively break away from that which divides us and begin to move toward that which unites us.

An opportunity.

We have an opportunity before us today that will define us as a nation. That opportunity has revealed itself to us on a grand scale by the increased rhetoric that continues to dominate the underlying issue. That issue is that there still exists a deep racial divide in this country that we need to get past. The opportunity lies in just how we handle it. It’s not up to politicians to exploit this opportunity because, as we’ve seen all too clearly, their judgment is clouded by their agenda.

It saddens me that those who have led this country (both past and present) seem so willing and ready to brush aside the opportunity to effectively lead us through the steps of healing we so desperately need as a nation. The opportunity to find common ground and come together as a nation is lost in personal, political, or cultural platitudes.

The opportunity that lies before us is one that requires us all to respect the differences we have while keeping an eye on the topic. Let’s not make it any more personal than it already is. OK, easy for me to say–or is it? There has been many a time when I’ve mistakenly injected my own bias or “feelings” into a topic when there was no reason to do so. The result: communication breakdown, discord, and resentment. The societal similarities can be seen on a daily basis.

Leaders need to lead, advocates need to advocate, rights and opinions need to be protected, and healing needs to take place. America needs a voice of confident calm to overtake the “conversation” I keep hearing that we so desperately need. I’m not convinced that voice should come out of Washington because, as I said earlier, they seem to be mired in their own ineptitude and shortsightedness.

I personally believe the rising division in our country is not about race insomuch as it is about the sociopolitical and economical realities we’re under. As a matter of opinion, I believe that, as a people, we continue to move past the blatant ugliness of the 1960’s. We are genuinely hurting in this country, as is most of the world. The economy is on the verge of collapse or a significant correction at best (believe it), unemployment is much worse than we’re told, savings are at an all-time low, the nucleus of the family has deteriorated, and we are more concerned about celebrity than our true heroes and warriors of freedom. It’s true that we have differences. But those differences rarely rise to the feverish pitch they have recently. What am I missing?

There is simply not enough room in this forum for me to depart on a diatribe of suggestions to address the issues that divide us. Suffice it to say, however, that we all need to take a step back, focus on the issues while doing our level best to keep our emotions in check for the sake of addressing those issues. Because the moment it gets personal, the conversation is over.

Let me know what YOU think. Something tells me you will...

Until next time!

- G -


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Sequester

As an active civil servant for the Department of Defense, I am called upon to serve at the direction of those appointed above me in my chain of command, from my immediate supervisor all the way to the SECDEF, who responds in accordance to the will of the president in response to the defense requirements and objectives of America. I'll be the first to admit that I don't always agree with the logic or some of the processes of our government. It's not perfect, but it's still the best in the world. What I do find difficult to comprehend lately is the ensuing madness and ineptitude that seems to continually emanate from our elected leaders, especially when it comes to running the housekeeping of our beloved nation.



Somewhere along the lines of checks and balances and a collective team approach of "we are the United States," we became enemies with and among ourselves. We have turned away from values and principles that have defined us as a nation and have instead become so polarized that it is literally crippling any chance we have to recover from the choices we have made to this point. Forget progress. We must first focus on stopping the hemorrhaging that'll get us to a place where we can begin to heal. We must return to the basics of that originally defined America if we are to project strength of any kind, let alone power from a purely defense perspective.

Our government, under the leadership of a divisive president and a dysfunctional legislative branch, are so at odds with each other that our country is quickly finding its way to a grinding halt. Washington hasn't created a budget in over four years, while spending has spiraled out of control to unprecedented levels. If any one of our families even attempted to operate a personal budget using Washington D.C.'s "creative processes" as a model, they'd not only be flat broke but would no doubt be in jail or an insane asylum. You simply cannot spend what you do not have!

I can report from an inside perspective, that the manner in which our government "reacts" to its fiscal obligations serves only to support uncertainty and discord among those of us who are entrusted to execute the mission while doing our level best to be good stewards of the taxpayer's money. There's a whole lotta belt tightening going on...has been for years. Given a defined framework (a budget) from which to operate and function, your government is able to plan and execute smartly in order to meet national security objectives. The absence of a budget, on the other hand, actually increases waste and decreases efficiency. Go figure!

As a civil servant, I have accepted ─ albeit with some reservation ─ the discontinuance of pay raises since 2010 (aside from the paltry one-half of one percent we recently received in 2013), and like so many other Americans, have seen the tax holiday expire, gas prices rise, and now, a possible sequestration, or furlough ─ which is essentially just another government word for "layoff." And we're being told (or sold) by Washington that we're in the midst of an economic recovery? What am I missing?

Because I belong to an organization whose charge is to support and defend the constitution, I understand the definition of sacrifice. I've lived it and seen many friends and colleagues die for it. Like so many others alongside me however, I keep waiting for the rest of the nation to come together to do their part. One party, one sector, one "side", or one man alone cannot fix this, nor should they be expected to. It is going to take the collective will of ALL Americans to stand up and address the issues.

America is wounded!  She is on one knee and needs EVERYONE to come to her aid.

It never ceases to amaze me that, for so many problematic issues in our country, politicians can typically be found at the epicenter, each side pointing fingers at the other in a standoff blame game, while those of us who pay their salaries fall victim to their inaction, ineptitude, and infighting by way of layoffs, pay freezes, hiring freezes, tax increases, and budget cuts. It's high time THEY become truly accounatable for their actions...or inactions. (Term limits anyone?)

I did not sign up for the kind of change we were promised five years ago. Granted, America needed to be changed then inasmuch as it still needs to be changed (some would argue even more so now than then). But the change America needed five years ago was a slight adjustment by way of a course correction, not a complete reversal. As a people, we know how to get there. We know that hard work and smart decisions are just the beginning to correct the course we need to be on in order to become strong once again.

Everyone knows with certainty that the sequester can be avoided. Unemployment can be lowered. Prosperity and pride can return to our country...if we'll just get out of the way, allow the free enterprise system to work, and stop trying to define the manner in which it should be framed. It cannot be fixed unilaterally. It cannot be repaired idealistically. And it cannot continue on its current trajectory for much longer.

It has been said that the best lessons lie in learning what not do inasmuch as they reside in learning the right thing to do. My hope is that we have learned all we need to know about what not to do in time to keep America from having to go down to both knees.

Let me know what YOU think.

Until next time!

- G -

 Please visit my website: www.gwestfal.com
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HOT off the presses! I have just released my first novel! Visit my website (www.gwestfal.com) and get your copy of Dream Operative today!

If you'd like to receive a notification anytime I publish a new blog (currently about every two weeks), visit my Facebook page: G. Gary Westfal, Writer, Artist Educator

Once there, click on "Get Update via RSS" on the bottom of the left column. You'll be subscribed and will receive notification whenever I publish a new blog or provide updates to my novel Dream Operative. And help me by recommending this blog to others and "liking" my FB page.
 

Please visit my Introspection bog at: http://gwestfal.blogspot.com/

 

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