10/17/2020
October 16, 2020
Dear America,
As I sat in my Livingroom last night pondering where we are as a nation, as a people, that once welcomed everyone from all over the world, I felt a heaviness in my being. We once embraced different races, different religions, different cultures, and as necessary component of our strength, and Solidity. The words from Emma Lazarus’s well known 1883 sonnet “New Colossus” on a plaque attached to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty welcoming all who long to be free. The most famous lines from that Sonnet are, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be breath free”. As Americans, this is who we are; or who we once were and can be again..
As a nation, and as a people, we once felt our might and power came from our unbounded belief in the worth of each, and every life. It appears that we are no longer the welcoming nation we once were. But, appearances, are just that, appearances. This is not a political statement, nor do I see this as a political issue that needs to be debated or seen as a right or left issue. This is about basic human decency, and civility toward our fellow Americans.
This is also about the America that will be passed on to our children, and our children’s children. We cannot, and must not bury our heads in the sand, and stand idlily by to let hatred take root in our hearts and minds. Hatred does not, and must not have a home in us. The America I know, and I saw immolated in my mother and father is not what we have today. We MUST embrace, an America where differences do not divide our citizenry, but instead unite as. Is it too much to ask that we all, as President Lincoln so eloquently put it, “embrace the better angels of our nature”? I think not.
President Regan during a speech to the NAACP said, “A few isolated groups in the back order of America still hold the perverted notion of what America is all about…recently in some places… there has been a reoccurrence of bigotry and violence. To those who persist in such hatful behavior…you are the ones who willfully violate the dream that is America…and this country, because of what it stands for, will not stand for your conduct.”
Marvin Gaye’s song ‘What’s going on’ words are more appropriate now more than ever. Mother, mother, There's too many of you crying, Brother, brother, brother, There's far too many of you dying, You know we've got to find a way, To bring some lovin' here today…Father, father, We don't need to escalate…For only love can conquer hate, You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today…Don't punish me with brutality, Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on, What's going on…
Thank you, Marvin! Who longs for peace and unity? I do! I suspect you do too! Hate has no home here! Hate dies when it is not allowed to establish residency in the heart and soul of our country. Hate losses it’s power when we embrace egalitarianism. Hate morphs into understanding when it is examined for what it is, a falsehood based not in fact, but in fear. The FEAR is simply an unreality. An unreality that is F-ALSE E-VIDENCE A-PPEARING R-EAL. Remember, appearances are just that, appearances.
Dr. Richard J. Stride
