If the Divide in This Country Bothers You... Stop Taking Part

No one can deny that, as I write this, the United States of America is greatly divided. There is a lot of debate about when and how it started, but the fact is that it has been happening for a very long time. We are at a bad place right now.

No matter the topic, you can watch conservatives, liberals, and libertarians fighting each other. We'll vote for and cheer for whatever, as long as the other side doesn't like it. Any small victory gets rubbed in the face of the other side. Any perceived victory is flaunted equally. 

Yes, we are currently watching what I believe is a silent coup in our government. Those who voted for anyone but Trump cannot get over the fact that he won, and the fact that he didn't take the popular vote is prompting even more fights than usual.

But what I want to talk about is the American people themselves.

I read comments. On blog posts, videos, Facebook, any news source that allows article comments, etc. I am equally fed up with the comments from both sides of the isle.

This isn't a football game, where we crap talk the fans of the other team. But that is exactly how a good deal of people are acting. And they'll stand for anything to get another hit on the other side.

We're not enemies, guys. We're all US citizens here. We're supposed to be cheering for the same team, remember? We're all waving the same flag and wearing red, white, and blue body paint in the stands!

Why can't we come together on something? Why can't we have friendly conversations and debates that don't deteriorate into name calling? Does anyone else remember when the first person to bring up Nazis immediately lost the debate? That doesn't seem to be the case anymore, and to listen to folks, there are a lot of Nazis in the USA.

I have long held that I think people vote for and cheer for things simply because they want to complain about it and fight people over it. I believe people do this, and I'm not sure why. Then, in the next breath, they are crying about our country being so divided.

Well, if you want the divide in this country to close, stop dividing us.

Look, I'm one of those people who liberals think is too conservative and conservatives think is too liberal, and the libertarians look at sideways. I think everyone is insane! But the point is, I can debate people without calling them names. I can see the other point of view, even if it doesn't sway my own opinion. I've grabbed people online who attacked my views and forced them away from name calling and into standing behind their beliefs in friendly debate. I've looked extremists on both sides in the eye and walked away with a smile and a handshake and no ill feelings from either party.

I didn't support Pres. Obama. But when he did something right, I said so. When people made threats, I defended him. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. But we, as a nation, are moving further and further away from that. I listen to the left beg for Trump to be impeached, even though it would not remove him from office (and if they did remove him, Pence would be president). I've heard the right threaten civil war, which is actually pretty funny because I have no faith the people of my generation would do that even if we were taken over by communists.

The point is...

You are not my enemy.

You are not my enemy, either.

And you are not my enemy.

And I'm not your enemy.

You are my fellow countrymen. I might hate what you believe, and you might hate what I believe. But somehow, we need to stop fighting each other, because we are not each other's enemy. We need to stand together, debate, come up with new ideas, and fix our country. And our country isn't going to get fixed if we continue to treat it like a football game.

I'm guilty, too. So from here out... I'm not going to make fun of liberals anymore. I'm done. I'm not going to play that game any longer. I expect that same respect in return, and will tell you when it comes. I'm not fighting my own countrymen any longer. It's not working for either of us. So let's stop. I want to fix my country. I want to be free. And I know our ideas of "free" are going to be different. But I'm not going to allow you to be my enemy anymore. I am tired of the hatred and the fighting. So yeah, I'm going to start being what I want to see. Care to join me?