Monday, November 5, 2012

Maybe I have this wrong.

2 things people should know about me before I start this off.

1. I HATE conflict between people I love. It stresses me out to no end. Makes my insides squeam and crawl. I can;t sleep over it sometimes. Makes me anxious. This is just over two people I love fighting...not even me in an argument.
2. My family is full of the most stubborn, religious and caring people in the world, but boy are they stubborn. They are drawn right down the line on their politics and I am fairly sure that each one would die for their politics. They believe deeply all that they believe. Which is a great thing! I whole heartedly believe that both sides working together is the only way that progress happens and that both sides are fighting for a better world.

I think it is easy to see all the differences in the arguments because we like seeing differences. We see something hear something that we don't like and we want to put as much distance from that person or idea as we possibly can. And in many cases that may be true, but can we see what we agree on?

A HUGE example is the war on welfare. Obviously more liberal minded people can feel that the government should take care of the poor and elderly and sick. Society should take care of them through the government. A Liberal can also see a Conservative as heartless because they don't believe that the government should take care of the aforementioned poor, elderly or sick. It is easy to look at that and say, well "Republicans hate poor people" but we forget that many of the Republicans donate large amounts of money to charities, churches and other institutions that help the sick elderly and poor (actually the top 1% donates more than the other 99% combined). They are just doing it in a different way.

What I am trying to say, and maybe i am not eloquent enough to articulate it correctly is that we are all the same. We have a passion, a belief, a view for a better tomorrow and we work so hard to see that happen. Would a liberal minded person vote for a Republican who promised not to change any laws affecting women's rights, gay marriage, or medicare? Would a Republican vote for someone who would not change those laws either but would fight to cut the spending?

 Both parties see a better America, both offer solutions to create that place. My thought is can we lay the differences aside and work for a tomorrow. Not a better one. Not a brighter one. Not a more equal one. but one where we are existing and thriving again as a country. One that offered real solutions. One where we accept that it takes sacrifice and hard work. One that teaches everyone what it means to support each other. One where we help our neighbors where the Gov't can't afford to.

We all want a brighter America. We all want the dream. We all can achieve the dream. But the reason we don't is because we have forgotten that it doesn't happen overnight, in years, maybe even in your lifetime. If you come to this country as an immigrant. you may not become rich, maybe your kids get an education, then they are successful and they propel their kids to be more successful. If you start out in poverty you honestly won't be a millionaire by the time you die. But you can improve, you can walk up the ladder. And as a country we can walk up the ladder. We can give everyone the rights they deserve and then teach them to better themselves. Teach them to go and take their future. But we can only do that together. Right and left coming together working together and loving together.

I hope it makes sense. Maybe I got it wrong.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Irony

It's terrible to me that, one day into the season of thankfulness I find myself griping about all the things I am not happy about, things I want, things I don't like. I have had to step back several times in the past 24 hours and say "wait, life is actually really great right now. Why am I being so negative and grumpy about life?
I need to remember all the things I have been blessed with. I need to remember to thank God for giving me those things. I feel so guilty after catching myself feeling that way because there are so many people who have less, or have had so much taken away and they are more thankful than I am.
So I am spending this holiday season working hard on only being thankful and really trying to not want.