W. B. Yeats, in his poem “The Second Coming,” wrote, “Turning and turning in the widening gyre/ The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ Things fall apart, the center cannot hold,/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”
We are living in a country that is more divided and closed-minded than I could have ever thought possible. Our president and his most loyal supporters have cast their shadows on objective truth, giving this country only a dull silhouette of the reality of our nation. The values this country were built on have been moved aside by both conservatives and liberals alike in an attempt to usher in their own identity as the bedrock of this country instead of the identity and values it was built on.
In the midst of the hopelessness of our political atmosphere, there is a lighthouse warning us of the impending danger ahead and a foghorn reminding us of our lost sight. In our most troubled times, we often find the greatest opportunities. The opportunity we find ourselves with in this situation is one of growth and building resilience as a country.
The current administration has shown that moving the political pendulum further to the right will only make it swing with more force and vigor to the left where, once it reaches the top, it will swing harder toward the right. Our opportunity is to grab the pendulum right in the middle, catch our breath, and stand in disbelief of the damage we have done.
I loathe terms such as “red states” and “blue states,” for they do nothing but widen the political canyon we must eventually cross. We will never be a “blue” or “red” country nor should we be. We must take the opportunity to understand this, to compromise across the aisles, to be civil even to those who we disagree with, and to listen to each other and to the falconer: the values upon which our country was built.
I do not want to see the Affordable Care Act be taken apart by Republicans. I support strong healthcare reform, but the tradeoff of the opportunity we have been given is opening our eyes to reality and understanding that we are in no position as a country to fund the social welfare programs many Democrats and others would like to see. Grassroots movements must start from the ground up; they cannot grow from the top and make their way down. Reform like this will take time: time to heal wounds; time to build relationships outside of our prideful and exclusive identity politics; time that is currently being shattered whenever the pendulum swings from right to left or left to right.
Many of our politicians have devolved to attacking each other. Not only do they attack their politics, but they attack their personality and personal history. We emulate those in powerful public offices. When our elected politicians widen the divide between themselves, the divide between ourselves widens as well. I know I disagree with those around me on many different issues, but this does not mean that I cannot treat them with dignity and respect.
Out of hope and out of fear, I ask that we introduce ourselves to those we see as being on the other side, an action that does not require us to lose our identity, but, in fact, to strengthen it by asking ourselves, “What does my identity bring to this community to strengthen us as a whole?” rather than asking “What does this community do for my identity as an individual?” This is not a call to one side of the spectrum or another; it is a call to all of us. Be civil. Be realistic. Be steadfast. One side cannot cross the line to pull the other out of the darkness; we must each do our part to reach the middle. To take this opportunity is not to lose ourselves in the middle ground, but to find each other in the middle ground. For if the pendulum swings and the gyre widens, we will fall apart.
