I grew up during a very tumultuous time – the 60s and 70s. The Vietnam War was in full swing, and the youth of America (including me) were not happy with it. In our little high school in our small town, we wanted to do something. We protested by holding a sit-in in our gymnasium and wore black armbands to show we were against the war. We wanted it known that we wanted Love and Peace and NOT war!! We wanted harmony!

A little earlier, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and freedom on August 28, 1963. He was calling for an end to racism in the United States and for civil and economic rights.

Folk artists like Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan and others added their protest in song. In 1971, the television commercial “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) portrayed a positive message of hope and love. It featured a multicultural collection of teenagers on top of a hill, singing the song.

We were energized! We were being heard and felt like we were making a difference. We were seeing people of different races, cultures and creeds coming together and getting along with each other. HARMONY!

Let’s fast-forward to today. I’m a little older (okay – a LOT older) and a bit more seasoned. In my teens I had seen our country starting to come together. We began to accept people for who they were – not what they looked like. Sure there were troubles and difficulties, but we had really come quite far. So what happened???

Today we are again living in tumultuous times. Everywhere I look I see anger and divisiveness. America is more divided today than it has been in decades, and the deep divisions that are tearing us apart continue to get even worse. Unless positive change happens, everyone is going to keep pulling in different directions, and rip our country to shreds. As Abraham Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Protesting in today’s world is different than it was years ago. We knew what we were protesting. Today most people really don’t know what they are protesting. They just go along with what they’re told or follow whoever is paying them. Anger and disruption are the names of the game.

Instead of seeing each other as Americans, we have allowed people to be grouped by color, creed, gender or political view. We don’t look at individuals, but look at how they are labeled!

As a nation, we no longer have a shared set of values or principles that provide a foundation for our decisions. Everyone just does whatever is right in their own eyes, and the result is chaos. In America today, there is very little agreement about what is right and wrong anymore. The liberals, PC police, and mainstream media have done a LOT of damage to our country. And we have allowed them to do it!

As a whole, we have also taken our eyes off God and placed them on the almighty dollar and success in the eyes of the world.

“We, the American people, are not each others enemies.
The enemies are those people behind the curtain jerking everybody’s
chains and trying to divide us up by age, by race, by income.”
Ben Carson

We need to realize that the people causing the dissension are hiding behind the scenes and smiling when it works! As a result, America has become so divided. Do we want to continue this way? Do we want to make a change? If we do, then it’s time to stop buying what they are selling. We are ALL Americans.. We need to act like it! Unity makes us strong!

We have to start somewhere. If we start to make changes that all of us can take part in,
I believe the divide would become smaller. Don’t look at the labels. Throw them all away! Start looking at people – one person at a time. Show a little compassion. It may take a little practice, but give it a try….

I hope you enjoyed reading this article.
Be sure to check out another of my articles:  Make a Difference!

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