-
From The Editor
From The Editor
Last week I read, with great interest, an open letter from the leadership of the Washington National Cathedral. It’s a letter I’m sure will bother some and be praised by others; and hopefully prompt many to think about the current state of our society. I’ve republished it, with permission, on this page.
At the risk of seeming hyperbolic, our society is facing a crisis. It’s a crisis of identity and a crisis of conscience. For years we have, as a society, both watched and participated in a steady decline in our social and political discourse. We’ve allowed ourselves to be torn apart into “us versus them” camps, a binary that threatens the unity and diversity of our nation. It shames me that many in my profession have been active participants in the continued escalation of vitriol and division.
What we’ve become is a society and body politic that behaves as if our nation is a zero-sum game. We speak, and behave, as if if any gains that don’t directly benefit “us” mean that “we” have somehow lost ground. We’re acting like rats on a sinking ship, desperate to reach higher ground by climbing on the backs of each other, pushing everyone else down in the process.
Is this the America we want to leave to our children and theirs?
For me, it is not. America, to me, is a promise. It’s a promise to ourselves, to the people of the world, and to future generations that all people deserve freedom and equality; that all people have inherent value.
America has not yet fully lived up to that promise. We’ve made tremendous strides in the last 243 years, but we still have a long way to go to wipe away the stains of bigotry and inequality. But that’s one of the greatest things about our country and our Constitution - We The People have the power to make the necessary changes if we have the courage and strength to act.
We’ve done it before. From the abolition of slavery to the passage of civil rights legislation and continued progress on racial, gender, and identity issues we are making progress. Maybe it’s too easy for me - a cis-gender, straight, white male - to say that. I’ve never experienced the dehumanizing pain of overt (or even subtle) discrimination, but history shows that we are making strides forward.
And with any progress comes resistance.
The focal point of that resistance is now centered in Washington, D.C. While President Donald J. Trump gets most of the public blame (from one camp) and public praise (from the other), the fault truly lies with all of us, the voters who continue to elect a group of demagogues to positions of leadership in this country, demagogues who pit Americans against each other in their ever-escalating games of power.
Donald Trump and his administration are the natural results of this increasing zero-sum binary. The president’s reprehensible behavior represents the very worst in all of us. His boorish bullying of anyone and anything with whom he disagrees brings us all down because we tolerate it and in many cases support it. Most of us, I would hope, would discipline our children for this type of behavior, but when it comes from our president we’ve come to accept it - and in many cases, imitate and encourage it.
The leadership of the Washington National Cathedral asked a very important question in their letter: at what point does our silence become complicity?
In my opinion, we’ve moved beyond that point. The time has come for all of us to stand up and say, “enough is enough.”
America is a nation built upon diversity. Our ancestors, both recent and beyond, were men and women of every conceivable background, race, creed, color, and belief system. They were gay and straight and everything in between. They were people, and those people were committed to building a better society, one that would serve as a beacon of hope for the entire world.
It is long past time for all of us to come together and honor them for their vision, work, and sacrifice. It’s time to get beyond this partisan bickering, end the boorish, childish behavior, and get our society back on track.
We’re not always going to agree, and that’s the place from which our national strength comes. Every idea, every plan, every policy can benefit from scrutiny and healthy, intellectual debate.
That’s the beauty of America, our ability to change if we have the fortitude to do so. That’s the promise we need to strive to deliver to the future.
Bob Henline is managing editor of The Cordell Beacon. The opinions expressed herein are his and his alone and do not necessarily represent those of The Cordell Beacon, Wesner Publications, or its owner and management.