by Gwendolyn M Plano
We have a country that is armed. Not just the South, as Northerners like to imagine. Not just the inner cities, as suburban folks might suggest. The entire country is armed – from New York to Florida, from Chicago to the Gulf States, from Seattle to Arizona. But, why?
Are we all afraid of the drug dealers down the street, or the thieves who prey on innocents? Why are we armed?
I suspect we are armed because of the precipice at which we stand - the chasm of failed trust.
We’ve just suffered through a very contentious election process. If it weren’t battering enough to listen to months of ugliness, we now deal with post-election anger. And, it is about both that I write.
As a person who has experienced violence up close and personal, who has known diminishment because of my gender, who has been ridiculed because of what I believe, I know what it is to be considered valueless. I know the world of the haves and have-nots. My skin is white, but it has known shades of brown and blue and black.
My heroes, those who accompany me through life, are Harriett Tubman and Martin Luther King, Jr, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu. They walked a path marked by courage, choosing non-violence over hate and traveling into the heart of sorrow. Their path is one I believe we need to embrace.
A choice for violence in words or in deeds is a choice to destroy. The rhetoric defending such actions moves me not. I may be old and foolish, but I believe we each can summon courage to bridge the divide, to restore trust in humankind. Not Trump and not Clinton.
You and I hold the possibility of hope for our fellow citizens.
I care about this country – profoundly. I care about my loved ones – profoundly. I care about our beautiful earth – profoundly. And, I know that all that I love, all that I care about, teeters on your choice and mine.
Are we all afraid of the drug dealers down the street, or the thieves who prey on innocents? Why are we armed?
I suspect we are armed because of the precipice at which we stand - the chasm of failed trust.
We’ve just suffered through a very contentious election process. If it weren’t battering enough to listen to months of ugliness, we now deal with post-election anger. And, it is about both that I write.
As a person who has experienced violence up close and personal, who has known diminishment because of my gender, who has been ridiculed because of what I believe, I know what it is to be considered valueless. I know the world of the haves and have-nots. My skin is white, but it has known shades of brown and blue and black.
My heroes, those who accompany me through life, are Harriett Tubman and Martin Luther King, Jr, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu. They walked a path marked by courage, choosing non-violence over hate and traveling into the heart of sorrow. Their path is one I believe we need to embrace.
A choice for violence in words or in deeds is a choice to destroy. The rhetoric defending such actions moves me not. I may be old and foolish, but I believe we each can summon courage to bridge the divide, to restore trust in humankind. Not Trump and not Clinton.
You and I hold the possibility of hope for our fellow citizens.
I care about this country – profoundly. I care about my loved ones – profoundly. I care about our beautiful earth – profoundly. And, I know that all that I love, all that I care about, teeters on your choice and mine.
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