Exceptional Frogs

Look at us. What have we become? A nation of people who are like the frog in a pot of boiling water. As long as the heat is turned up incrementally, we’ll never see our end coming. Political systems were NEVER meant to hold our hopes and dreams. Governments were never intended to be solutions to issues that can and should only be addressed through real relationships with actual people.

Instead, in a fog of American exceptionalism, we get funneled into one of two or three political parties. The system is geared to create this massive amount of by-in that believes our country’s reality will be created by the party that wins. Depending on which party you align with the country is either destroyed or restored. Most of us have bought in to this narrow, winner-take-all perspective and can’t seem to see beyond it. The hard truth is that political systems change. Governments evolve or devolve. Nothing lasts forever.

We are taught that we are the greatest nation in the world, built on non-partisan and unconditional freedom. Objective history offers a different storyline that takes place in the shadow of the stars and stripes. It’s a bloody story about the struggle of those America has trampled on to get where she is. The exceptional American story I was told as a child that caused a swell of pride in my heart when the national anthem would be played, came curtesy of indigenous massacre, racial dehumanization, and gender oppression among other things. This doesn’t mean I don’t love my country. Quite the opposite! My heart breaks for my country. For generations, the actions of our broken humanity have been swept under the rug of our collective conscience, only to be replaced by the precariously porcelain hope of political power. Do you honestly think…that anyone who sits in the halls of power in this country…will EVER be able to deal with the sickness of division that has plagued humanity in various ways since the dawn of modern humans and beyond? WHY are we so shocked that we are here now…in this pot of water…boiling alive?

This is not new. Countries and kingdoms and empires have been in these sorts of stages for thousands upon thousands of years. We are no different from them. In all of those times, as now, the real power and responsibility rests with the population as individuals. It comes down to taking a step toward each other, not even in a spirit of compromise, but in a spirit of love that prefers the wellness of the other. I believe that we will come to that opportunity one way or another, either as a result of tragedy or triumph. Are you ready to cling to love above party affiliation? Are you ready to cling to love even if others harm you? Are you ready to see the wounds of your enemy as your own wounds? Are you ready to give everything because you believe that nothing is more powerful than love? These are the real questions facing us now. Please don’t be fooled. Please don’t be distracted by fear.

They say change is the only constant in life. Honestly, I’ve begun to be suspicious of things that don’t change after long periods of time. Maybe our country is overdue for change, but even after the dust settles, we will still have each other to face. The lesson of love will still be waiting to be learned. Maybe we should get a jump on studying.