“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permantely, half slave and half free, I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.”
That speech was made by Abraham Lincoln on June 16th, 1858 when he accepted the Illinois Republican Party nomination for senator. Three years later, he would be elected President of the United States and the nation would, indeed, divide into the beginnings of the Civil War.
We are, at present, a nation divided. Regardless of which of the top two candidates won the election, we would be a nation divided. We have once again reached a point in our history where the politics of both parties is so polarized that we cannot stand as one. Both Republicans and Democrats have reached a point where they will not, by their own moral standings, desire and pursue the ability to reach across the aisle and attempt to reunite the fractured elements of our vastly divided voters. We are, perhaps not physically, but idiologically at war with one another — and with ourselves.
Yet, we have also reached a point in our history where extending the proverbial olive branch is of the utmost necessity. Pride, as they say, goes before the fall. Am I saying we blindly goose step behind our new commander-in-chief? No. But, then again, I would make that same argument, regardless of who gained office. Our Founding Fathers fought for our chance and choice to question those in power. The First Amendment covers everything from Freedom of Religion and Speech to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Freedom of Press. You don’t have to agree with what you find morally wrong — in fact, now is completely pertanent that we do stand by our moral compasses; but reducing each other to infantile name calling and denying each other their just opinions is how we lose. Brother need not turn against brother. Even in our deepest division since the Civil War, we can stand together. For change. For the future. Just because we disagree with one another gives us no right to shed the blood of one another.
Hate begets hate. Regardless of which side of the political aisle you sit on, hate begets hate. You can be angry with the outcome of the election and still hold respect for those who voted differently than you. We are all human. We all have our own opinions. And belittling someone for being different from you is a slap in the face to figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. — who once said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” You can agree to disagree without invalidating someone. You can say that someone is morally corrupt to the core — but if you destroy them with your words and treat them as less than human, you are no different than them.
In closing, whether we like it or not, we are in the same boat together. The next four years will be telling, not how we are as a nation, but how we are as a human race. And only you get to decide what kind of human you really are.
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