Americans Need a Common Enemy That Is Not American

Even since the fall of the Berlin Wall Americans have turned ever more inward to find enemies. This has caused an ever growing rift in our country. Today being July 4th we celebrate our Independence from Britain. We all celebrated together the fact that we are self ruled.

I worry that we forget that we are all Americans. Some Americans act as if they are more American than the rest. In fact, the most American are our native peoples who are often treated the worst.

I might have thought that with Putin’s unprovoked attack and war on the Ukraine we might have pulled together a little more as we could all see him as a common enemy. Sadly there are elected officials who seemed to have some allegiance to Putin and aren’t afraid to say so.

On this fourth my wish for America is that we work to see our neighbors as ourselves. If someone is a different religion, or skin color or orientation or political party, try and find what you have in common rather than concentrating on your differences. A homogeneous society is not an interesting one.

Let’s try and not find enemies within. Our enemy does not have to even be another county or person, but it can be a situation, like hunger, or climate change or cancer. Let’s fight for the betterment rather than the breakdown. Happy Birthday America. Please let us be better next year and the year after that.