PEST

Gary Gruber Phd
November 13 , 2020 /

PEST

POST ELECTION STRESS TEST:   Yes, that’s right.  The election this past November 3, ten days ago, illustrated full on what we already knew, that this country is polarized, divided and fractured. And it’s still not officially over.  The political divisions are significant because they are along race, class and ethnic lines;  influenced by socio-economic conditions, and likely to remain. These differences must be bridged if we are to become what we call euphemistically these United States.

Red and blue should perhaps be eliminated and since white isn’t a color but the lack of same, is it possible to find a designation other than colors?  Maybe we could resurrect the 19th century donkey and elephant symbols and take pride in either without the Nasty need to disparage the other.  Or perhaps it’s time to create new symbols, bold and innovative, more in tune with the times.

For a little stress relief I ventured into the origins of the animal symbols. Here’s one account:

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/why-democrats-are-donkeys-republicans-are-elephants-artsy/index.html

We endured an obscenely expensive campaign, some estimates over 11 billion dollars spent, hundreds of thousands of ads that were negative, discouraging, as many or more against rather than for anything.  And the cost was not merely in dollars.  There was also a price paid for human dignity.  Now is the time to restore our faith in the principles on which this country was built and on which it can stand in the future – these self-evident truths, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”We need a shift in attitudes and behaviors from negative to positive, from intentions to destroy to designs to create, from verbiage to constructive action.  Too much rhetoric, too little reality, too much theater of the absurd, too little rational and logical action.  It is time for a paradigm shift in many areas instead of continuing the same behaviors and expecting different results, the definition of insanity.

Etched in stone on the F.D.R. Memorial in Washington, D.C. are these words: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to those who have much; it is whether we provide for those who have too little.”   That is true globally as well as nationally and locally.  Perhaps we could come together around the most pressing priorities facing all of us and take constructive, creative and responsible actions to solve those most troublesome issues.  Then we would be  more united and stand together, with bonds that strengthen rather than divisions that separate.  Maybe and hopefully, the next four years will see a positive change in the will and ability to work together for the common good, not merely partisan interests.  This is the message that each of us needs to send to those who represent us at every level.

In the meantime, we must take every opportunity we have to help heal the divisions that separate us, to share the visions that can unite us and to exert whatever influence we have to demonstrate that we can and will work toward a common purpose with common goals.  All of this is for the commonwealth of our future that can be so much better than it is.  If you believe that, everyone, regardless of party affiliation, can participate in the beginning for what lies ahead.  Perhaps we can embrace the test suggested by Natasha Brown, “for the love of humanity” and see how our actions meet that test.  There will continue to be different interpretations, different opinions and different responses.  That’s OK as long as that kind of diversity is both respectful and civil.  Diversity enriches all of us.  Divisiveness makes all of us poor and creates a poverty of spirit.  Ironic in that today is celebrated as World Kindness Day!

World Kindness Day

 

 

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