Is this a commitment we can make? Can we all say that we are willing to stand united and indivisible to make sure the liberty and justice is enacted for all? Can we honestly say that we are willing to fight for each other's freedoms and not just our own?

I have a friend who recently posted about the All Lives Matter/ Black Lives Matter debate. She was on the side of All Lives Matter because she felt as if Black Lives Matter ignored the injustices forced upon other American groups. I agreed with her; all lives do matter, but I did not feel as if saying Black Lives Matter was in any way selfish. Think of it this way: when a person has a traumatic experience it takes a lot of time to process and heal. If said person moves on with their lives without fully processing what happened or taking the time to heal, then the hurt of the trauma will continue to grow beneath the surface. When we experience painful things, though we may not focus on them, they are still there.

The U.S. is like a person in this way, only a thousand or so times worse because these traumas and injustices involve a lot of people. Our society has never fully dealt with the way the U.S. was formed in the blood of one people, on the backs of another, and shrouded in biased opinions with no attempt to understand the other. It has been acknowledged several times, more so today than ever before, but not much has been done about it. Just as it would be with a person every time anything resembling the original trauma resurfaces the pain is felt fresh all over again, but with each new reminder comes a new pain as well, so that the pain continually grows.

Right now the Black Lives Matter movement is trying to address one of the largest wounds our society still suffers from. In no way does it say that other lives do not matter, it doesn't say that other wounds do not need healing, but instead this movement focuses on the healing of one pain which in turn will aid another pain.

You may recall how voting once worked in our country. First it was given to the wealthy White men, then to poor White men, which crack the door for Black men, which in turn widened it for White women, and that left it open for Black women. I know there are a lot of colors in between that I am not acknowledging just to keep things a little simpler. I simply write this to say that when one group of people has a victory it's contagious. The saying, "Justice for one is justice for all" is not entirely incorrect. Liberty and Justice for one can lead to liberty and justice for all. Once one group of people is free and at liberty to behave a certain way they can open doors for others and help the people through them.

Is this still true for you? Can you struggle to help make this a reality? Think about it.