WE the people

Years ago, I saw a great documentary about the Holocaust, and one segment in particular stayed with me. A woman who had somehow survived one of the Nazi death marches was abandoned, without any provisions, with a small group of women as the Allies approached and her captors fled. When she spotted a well outside whatever structure they were left in—a barn, I think—she went to try and draw water, and an American soldier walked up, offering to help. She was so accustomed to being persecuted because of her faith and her heritage that she felt compelled to tell him—to confess really—"but I am Jewish." And he replied, "So am I." They later married. That might seem like a strange story to tell on election day, but I'm thinking about it this morning. It has something to do with another documentary we watched last night, "Patriocracy," which is both brilliant and disturbing. Lobbying neither for the left nor the right, the filmmaker calls, instead, for a return to open communication and compromise—and I mean that in the most positive sense, as in "let's find the common ground and see what we can accomplish from there." It shines a light on how divided we've become. But if you look back at some of our best and brightest moments, they happened when we were not divisive, but inclusive, when we focused on the positive and worked together despite our differences—when we believed in ourselves. For me, that's the spirit evoked by that young soldier, helping to liberate his people—and his simple words, "so am I." What would happen, I wonder, if people on both sides of the fence stopped yelling at each other and said, instead, "You're an American. So am I. Let's start from there and see what we can get done." Vote your conscience today. It's your right—hard won by generations of brave men and women, on battlegrounds foreign and domestic. Talk to your neighbors at the polls. Get to know your community. Participate. Understand. Communicate. Cooperate. Collaborate. It's time—for all of us—to be WE again.

[Image by Beverly Omalley @ Freerangestock.com]

Comments

[ginger parsons]

Thanks VAL -so true- love you

[Valerie]

Thanks, Ging! xoxo!

[Kacey]

Fabulous thoughts.

[Beverly]

Thanks Val, that was great.

[Valerie]

Thanks, y'all! Glad you liked it.

[Nancie Erhard]

From your keyboard to God's ears. Well done!

[Valerie]

Ha! Thanks!