Unity

We are a country no longer defined by unity, but by divisiveness. Somehow, we are still divided on race. We are still divided on gender equality. We are divided on what constitutes violence. We are divided on what constitutes as terrorism. We are divided on what hashtag we should use when advocating for the lives of all people, going as far as to take sides on whose lives matter more, when that wasn’t the intention of the original hashtag to begin with.

Horrific things keep happening, but all we can do is divide. People are living in terror in other countries. People are living in fear and isolation at home. People are living lives contrary to who they truly are because they don’t want to offend anyone or risk their life for being themselves – they don’t want to be divided from everyone else, so they divide from those they identify most with. And when we explain why we’ve divided, we say it’s because the other side divided first. We are so quick to respond that we fail to listen in the first place.

Fear, hate, anger, sadness, and grief have engulfed us. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of darkness in world that has so much light in it. The most heartbreaking thing we can do is to use that darkness to shroud out the light, and yet we continue to block out the light.

Listen, I get it. I am so proud to see the passion so many of my friends have for the future of this country. I am glad you are worried – I am, too. I am so happy that you are all able to and feel free to express your views and opinions. And I am, in a sense, as disappointed as you are – jaded with the political process of this country.

But I am also scared. For the first time, I am scared of my fellow Americans. I am scared for my fellow Americans. I am scared that this period of civil unrest is going to lead to civil war. I am scared that no one seems to care about that – they only care about their opinions on weapons and whose lives matter more. I am scared that we have lost our humanity. Even as a gay person in this country, I’ve never felt true fear until now. What do we do when we, the people, fall victim to our prejudices and fears and instead resort to violence? The answer, of course, is disorder. Unrest. Anarchy.

So when two candidates come together in the face of adversity to fight against tyranny, it is heart wrenching to see so many respond divisively. Don’t stop reading: I am not about to campaign for anyone. That’s not what this space is for. I'm not here to further divide. I don’t care what your political affiliation is, seeing politicians come together on the same stage to stand together in unity against a common threat is something we ought to value. It is something we ought to aspire to. It is something we ought to use to demonstrate that we can unify. It is evident that we ought to unify.

What I saw on that stage today was not one candidate giving up. I did not see the establishment overtaking an unsuspecting old man. I saw a united front in the face the common threats to our rights not even as Americans, but as a global community. A united front toward a threat to the common good of humanity. I am proud of my country. To survive, we have to remember the central intention for why we came to this country to begin with: to unify against those who seek to divide. We are greater than those who seek to divide us. We are the prophets of tomorrow.

I cannot be sad in the face of unity.