Contrary to popular belief, gun wielders, Democrats, Republicans, racists, LGBTQ, sexists and all of the other topics of conflicts are not the source of the problem in America. It’s not the people who disagree. It’s not Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton. It’s not everybody else. It’s us, all of us because we are one nation and we don’t stand together anymore.

We fight, we blame, we throw tantrums, and we are incapable of getting along with anybody who disagrees with us. We are falling apart as a country and our closed-mindedness is the only thing to blame.

Sure, there are some serious problems in our country, and by serious, I mean our country is hanging on by a thread. But, taking away the 2nd amendment, forcing everyone to have the same political views, believing that only and all white people are racist, taking away the rights of the LGBTQ community, and being ignorant enough to believe that we should all have the same views, is never going to fix our country.

All it’s going to do is divide us more…It already is dividing us more. All of the different races have coexisted for years without such problems, guns never used to kill so many people, other people’s sexual preferences had no effect on your life, and the majority of the citizens had respect for their president, even if they did not like him in the least.

Could it be that it’s not the guns or the races that are changing, but we the people? Yes! But we are not capable of taking the blame; there must be something else at fault. So we blame the guns, and the colors of skin, and the preference of sex, and we spend no time at all fixing our own selves.

But let me tell you something, no matter how much you voice your opinion, no matter how many people you call out, and how many arguments you win on social media, you will never force someone to change their views. You will piss them off, however. And you will make them like you even less than they did before.

So when you kneel to the National Anthem, you do not stand for those who are not treated as equal, you divide our country even more as it falls. You disrespect those who fought for our country, our freedom, and those who are still PROUD to be an American. When you destroy the streets in any sort of protest, you do not make your point, you again, divide us even more as a nation.

You make people think less of you than they already did. I do not say this out of personal judgment; I am simply stating the reactions that they cause. These protests do not bring us together. They do not help us see eye-to-eye. They separate us even more.

There are racists, and sexists, and homophobes, and there are people who should not own guns. These problems need to be fixed, but I cannot say it enough; they will not be fixed until we stand together. They just won’t. Look around, people! Do you see anything getting better? Do you see less racism because of the kneeling during the anthem? Do you see less racism because you blaspheme all of the cops for doing their job? Do you see Donald Trump getting impeached because of what people say about him in the news or on social media?

Do you see people changing their political views after an argument? Because I see people hating people more. I see people refusing to watch the NFL because they feel disrespected. I see more people disgusted at the way the police officers are treated than the actual topic at hand. I see liberals and conservatives losing lifelong friendships over different political views. I see a lot of unhappy and scared Americans who fear for the future of their life.

We can disagree, and stand together at the same time. We can love our country through democrat, republican, black, white, gay or straight hearts, and we can respect our different opinions without having to like everybody we know. Because “United we will stand, and divided we will fall,” and America, my friends, is falling.