What is going on in this Country? It seems that more and more people are screaming, yelling, shooting and throwing things at one another.
In the "olden days", it seemed that we were a more civilized country. People didn't shoot their neighbors if their Bougainvillea was hanging over the property line. There were peaceful Church socials and picnics and neighborhood block parties.
During WWII, people came together and sacrificed their personal needs for the good of the country. There was a national need to win a war at any cost. There was much suffering though and people made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we so dearly hold close to our hearts.
We have had serious disagreements in this country. The Civil Rights era brought a lot of turmoil and hatred to persons of different colored skin. We have seen the news reels and TV shows that have documented the plight of blacks in this country. We still have inequality when it comes to people of different color. Have we learned anything from the 1960s?
Something in the mean time has changed. With the Supreme Court decision on Same Sex Marriage, hatred has once again reared it's ugly head. Gay men and women have been objects of ridicule, hate and often death. We have seen the many scenes of brutality brought against us from people who have considered us different, apart, worthy of scorn and worthy of death.
The far right now has shown that this fight is not over. Many Religious Freedom laws and acts threaten to overturn the strides that we have made. Politicians have often said that they will not honor the law of the land and threaten to change all the good that we have done.
Another national concern is the way that Police do their jobs. Shooting people in the back, shooting people who are not clearly a threat to the law enforcer's life and shooting the innocent. Our nation has seen a slaughtering of people played out on every newscast, media outlet and especially on social media.
Ultimately with the current Presidential election year, hatred has come front and center once again. Donald Trump's rallies have turned into a free for all brawl at every event. We see scenes of people being punched, kicked, choked and physically dragged out of rallies.
Ultimately, have we always been a nation filled with hate? Has our country really been a nation of tolerance and "live and let live" mentality? What causes people to come to hatred? Is it innate? Is it circumstance? Is it just the human condition?
