Doing Ourselves Harm

In past entries on this blog site I have alluded to several recent news stories relating to a sizable division among the American people regarding an apparent unwillingness on their part to want to talk with or even be near those who have a different political affiliation. This, of course, is reflected by the elected officials who also seem to be having a hard time wanting to work with members not belonging to their party. The whole scenario is very frustrating. This constant friction is doing harm to the nation as well as all of us who support it via taxes and, even more importantly, our deep loyalty to our homeland.  


What is driving this desire that apparently many people share to not even want to interact with people who perhaps see the world a bit differently? How did such a hateful attitude become so widespread and intense? What has happened to us? For generations Americans enjoyed a reputation of being congenial. And maybe on some level in certain situations we still are. But when it comes to issues or topics deemed to be controversial, such as immigration, climate change and job creation, that innate niceness has vanished. Why? Politicians are often accused of being partisan. It seems as if non-politicians are that way, too. 


For me, the main source of frustration is not that we have lost our ability to respectfully and responsibly work together toward the greater good of society. I firmly believe we still can that whenever we want. Rather, we - politicians and non-politicians alike - are simply choosing not to communicate with each other. We seem to be so blinded by anger that we are making a conscience decision to not get along. This self-inflected breakdown in communication is doing us and our nation great harm. Perhaps we first need to hit a kind of collective rock bottom before we decide to being the kind of people we used to be. I hope not.