Dominique Hansley
Bio
I am not a professional writer. I state my opinion, and I am open to yours.
Stories (1/0)
America, I'm Looking for You
This is an open letter to America. I am looking for you, we all are. As a child I admired America and I was proud to be American. Over the last few years that feeling has greatly diminished and I am left with the feeling of sadness and loss. I am 26 years old and have lived here my entire life. As a child I watched the world around me with a light in my eye. I had role models who had high moral standards, Presidents who had common sense, and a sense of safety that I feel I will never feel again in my own country. I am not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way America forgot who she is. She forgot what she stands for and what she stands against. I, at 26 years old, am watching my great country fall apart. Everyday there are stories of senseless acts of violence being committed in our country against one another because of the color of someone’s skin, their religion, and their sexuality, all things that we are either born with. We cannot continue to hurt each other. We have enemies in too many other countries for us to turn on one another. This new “normal” in America: It is “normal” to be afraid to go to public places because you don’t know who will yell disgusting language at you or potentially harm you. We are afraid to send our children to school for fear that a gunman may take their lives. We are afraid to be our true selves for fear of being outcast. When did this happen? When did we forget what America stands for? When did we forget how to be DECENT human beings? That Golden Rule we were all taught as CHILDREN has been forgotten. Instead of people taking accountability for their actions we now allow people to make excuse, we EXCUSE the behavior because someone has had a hard life, or because they can afford to pay off whoever makes the consequences. And what is worse is that instead of us holding the PERSON accountable, we look at their race, their religion, their political association, or where they came from and we judge them based on that. We blame their behavior on those things instead of the many other things that really contributed to their behavior. Sounds like the news, right? But unlike the news, politicians and celebrities, I understand that this is ALL our faults. What everyone fails to see is that this isn’t a Democrat vs. Republican issue, or a Black vs. White issue, this is a HUMAN issue. We all share one thing in common: WE ARE HUMAN. We all hurt, bleed, cry, get angry, say horrible things, and lash out but we have forgotten that we are only HUMAN. I turn on the news daily and it’s always the same rhetoric. No one is trying to solve the issue. Our president is not the issue—we all are. We can only control the way that we react and nothing else. This constant eye-for-an-eye behavior must stop. Someone must take a stand and say, "NO MORE." We will no longer behave in this ridiculous manner. We must stop pointing the finger and instead hold our hand out in hopes that the other side will reach out too. This is not the best that America has to offer and it’s not the worst, yet. If WE, and I mean everyone in America, does not put a stop to the intolerance, violence, and crude language that is being used to hurt one another, then, America: I am afraid we have lost you forever.
By Dominique Hansley6 years ago in The Swamp