So the 2024 election has come and gone, and judging by the public reaction to the candidates and the outcome, it was one of the most controversial and hard fought presidential races this nation has ever seen.
Outcomes are now in the history books rather than being something to be decided in the future and for most people they are either overjoyed or devastated that they did not get the results they desired.
Results are not why I felt compelled to write about an election day now past in this column; however, the reason I bring up politics at all is how we as Americans have been willing to treat each other daily since the divisions between neighbors started becoming commonplace almost a decade ago now.
America has always pushed to be associated with words like ‘freedom,’ ‘choice,’ and ‘democracy,’ words that encompass an entire range of thought and emotion, ideals that allow for you to speak your own mind, both personally and in public.
There is something to be said for the fact that while we do indeed have the constitutional right to speak our minds. sometimes we do so without realizing the damage we are doing in the process.
Since at least 2020, I’ve seen despairing comments and jokes made at both sides of the aisle and political belief spectrum and let me tell you it’s definitely both sides that have gotten a bit ridiculous, regardless of how I feel about the beliefs of either of them.
Trust me when I say I know it feels like the time to be defensive and a bit more aggressive about our political sphere today…we are assuredly in a moment where there is a push between two ideologies, and emotions are at a fever pitch level.
I’m not going into which politics I take as my own (to be honest to me a multi party system breeds division so I’m not a fan of the entire structure), because it does not matter what does matter is everyone that is here, everyone that is an American citizen has a right to think how they like and say what they want.
Disagreeing with what they say when they choose to say it should not breed hatred and most importantly not have us see the people around aa anything but what they are, people close to us who just happen to have a different world view than some of us.
There are exceptions to the above of course.
Saying things that have real world consequences in violence, blood, and anger and loss should be not silenced but squashed by the majority as undesirable and unwanted as soon as it hits the ‘floor,’ regardless of all other factors.
That is where I’m writing this from, not in an angry place if my ‘side’ [sic] lost or from a joyful place if my ‘side’ won or from a place where I cannot look at the majority of people around me and see enemies and not friends.
The results are in, the future for now is decided, let’s try to get back to being a country united at least in defense of those around us to be able to express ourselves freely and still be our fellow Americans, not our opposition.
