Reflections on last weekend无毛视频檚 events
As these days of summer continue to unfold and we continue to complain about the heat and humidity, it’s probably about time for some serious self-reflection.
As we reflect on the events of this past weekend in Butler County, we find ourselves saying. “How could this happen in this day and age with what we have in the way of resources and technology?”
Unfortunately, it happened and we as a country and a commonwealth find ourselves again in the grips of a crisis. We truly struggle with finding common ground where we can exercise and convey our political choices without being divisive in the process. As our president shared Sunday evening, it’s time to reject political violence and recommit ourselves to resolving our differences peacefully.
It is indeed time to lower the temperature in our politics and concentrate on finding ways to unify our country where we have the great privilege to live in a democracy. It’s time to put our differences aside and thank God for the freedom that we way too many times take for granted.
Perhaps it’s time for President Biden and former President Trump to appear together as two political opponents who can agree to disagree but also to convey to the American public that it’s time to make America a better place and to do so without political division. The voting system in this country provides us with the opportunity to choose our government leaders. Unfortunately, at some point we’ve allowed that process to become more about tearing down candidates with negative ads than sharing their potential and positive attributes.
Our political choices are to be exercised at the ballot box, not on public airways and social media. In two short years, we are going to celebrate 250 years as the United States of America. The whole world is watching as one of the greatest and richest countries on Earth will celebrate 250 years of freedom and democracy. Let our legacy of the past be our torch of unity for the future, that same torch that stands high above the New York Harbor that has welcomed immigrants for years. It shares these words: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Those words have become our dreams and desires for a better life that continues to provide us with joy, comfort, peace and freedom.
The preamble to our Constitution clearly states; “We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, and insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America”.
Is our union perfect? No, but it continues to be work in progress. Can we do a better job of establishing justice and domestic tranquility? Yes, but it will take all levels of government working together for and with the people.
Provide for the common defense means, “the U.S. Constitution grants the federal government authority to maintain a military for the defense and protection of its people”. It appears that we may have reached a point where we might need protection from ourselves. Perhaps our enemy is not foreign but domestic. It’s not a power as much as it is the people and our own inability and or unwillingness to work together as a country in the pursuit of happiness. Happiness is not a destination, it’s a way of life, one that the majority of Americans value greatly.
The future of our country is at stake, not from some country halfway around the world but in our own backyard. We can and we must find a way to work together as a people of peace, justice, and tranquility as we work to secure the blessings of liberty that have been bestowed upon us. As we move forward, let our division and debate become deliberate ways that will begin to bring our country together again and hopefully heal our wounds of separation.
Pastor Gary A. Gibson is the director of pastoral care at Presbyterian Senior Care’s Washington campus and former pastor of North Buffalo Presbyterian Church.