“The only thing we have to Fear is Fear itself,” –Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1932 Inaugural Address
Fear is what America runs on now. Fear that a loved one will never make it home, or that a friend won’t pick up the phone anymore. Because that’s what it means to live in America, fear. Going to any public place may mean certain death, whether by officer or shooter. And that is truly sad. Fearing for one’s life in everyday situations is just wrong, no one should have to worry that much when going to the mall. The other day I thought to myself, “no one should be this fearful on a regular basis unless they’re in an active warzone”. And then I realized that America is an active warzone, just of a different kind. It’s sickening to think of, really. And every single day, the media and politicians perpetuate it. Donald Trump blames everything on Muslims, Hispanics, and African Americans, deepening the chasm of a race division in the country. Dan Patrick and Greg Abbott blame President Obama for encouraging the Black Lives Matter movement to rise up against police officers. And the media- oh, the media- eats it all up like a damn steak dinner because these are the things that get them ratings. Reporting on everything these people say and do, all the while spinning their words to fit their own agendas.
This is why none of the violence and hate will ever stop in this country. Because we have the people meant to be leading us, telling us that it’s completely and totally A-Okay to hate one another, hurt one another, and even kill one another. And then we have the media showing every single gory detail on every platform it can get its hands on to incite their viewers to hate the “other side”. To vilify the ones who share a different belief than ours. This divide between Americans is what is going to kill us all. There will come a day where the world will ask “Why isn’t American a Superpower anymore?” This is why. Because we let hatred and fear run us into the ground. Hatred and fear of the “other”, even though that “other” is barely distinguishable from ourselves. We are better than this; we have to be better than this. We condemn other countries for behaving like this, for God’s sake. America is so full of hate that it cannot function anymore. It truly breaks my heart to see citizen of this nation so pitted against each other, filled with so much rage for the other’s very existence.
This has to stop, people. It just has to. Stop the hate, stop the fear. Get rid of the superficial things we make up and imagine to divide ourselves. Make this country what so many like to claim it once was; Great. If we could just look around and see the atrocities we are committed against one another, we could fix it before it’s too late. And I’ll leave you with this, “Give America Hope Again,”.
