Subdivisions

It is remarkable that we live on one world, come from one common genetic stock, and yet, even so, find myriad ways to divide ourselves. Gender. Skin color. Religious preference. State. Country. Designations that are artificially enforced as making us different, even though they are ephemeral things that do not keep us from being the same underneath. It is ironic, because the history of humanity has been a story of unification, of moving to larger and larger groups, for protection or to share resources, or provide stability. Disparate groups constantly merging and melding: nomadic tribes becoming village dwellers, villagers becoming townsfolk, townsfolk moving to cities, and cities locking together to form nation-states.

While the impetus is always to the larger and stronger grouping, those groupings are rife with the cracks of difference. Nowhere is that seen more starkly, than in the United States, an agglomeration of almost every culture known to human kind, wrapped together under the cloak of liberty and justice, shot through with the fractures and fissures of antipathy and suspicion. A nation founded on noble ideals, we in America strive to maintain our strength even as we chisel away at the foundation of our strength: our diversity. The great breadth of cultures that have come together to form a world superpower, and the range of skills, abilities, and knowledge therein, simultaneously are our great strength, and inherent weakness. It is only the rule of law and our basic humanity that make this nation possible.

In recent years, however, it seems our differences are trending more toward separating us than uniting us. Despite being over two-hundred years old, and surviving civil and world strife, our country sometimes feels as if it is straining at the seams. Rather than becoming a stew, a mixture of distinct parts that create one nourishing meal, we are more a buffet, a pick-and-choose collection of dishes that are kept separate, and only rarely come together on one plate. We take only what we prefer, and leave the rest disregarded.

We cannot continue to deny our future together as one people by spending our time separating each other into groups. Like it or not we are one people, one humanity, and though we may live in distant parts of the Earth, we are all intrinsically tied together. No nation on Earth represents the spread of humanity quite like America, however we seem to be destined to reject our uniqueness, taking refuge in old social mores which no longer serve us in the modern age. It is time for us to grow up to, become more than we are, and to chart the destiny of our planet. Our nation is the only nation where of the disparate groups of our planet live together as one, and if we are true to that, then together we can solve any problem that lies in humanity's future.

We have a choice -- come together as one, as we are, or, to tear ourselves apart at the roots. a house divided against itself cannot stand, and right now we are that house. The possible collapse of our home is in our hands and in our hearts; it will be up to us to decide whether or humanity lives or dies. We must now turn our energies towards solving the intractable problems that confront us, and we must do it soon, lest we wake up one morning and discover that we are far too late.