{"id":242,"date":"2016-07-28T03:28:33","date_gmt":"2016-07-28T03:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/?p=242"},"modified":"2016-07-28T03:28:33","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T03:28:33","slug":"american-stew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/?p=242","title":{"rendered":"American Stew"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The beauty of America lies in its diversity. \u00a0We are a melting pot. \u00a0A stew of sorts. \u00a0And we are all in this same stew together! \u00a0It is not helpful to think of Americans as discreetly different groups. We are different and have differences, but we also share commonalities. \u00a0 We are more together than we are as individuals. \u00a0 We may value our independence and our rights, but these are best enjoyed within a framework of cooperation and brotherhood.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Why then is there such an effort lately to focus on our differences? \u00a0The spotlight seems to be on how to divide us. \u00a0Are we black? Are we white? \u00a0Are we rich or poor? \u00a0White collar or blue? \u00a0City or rural? \u00a0 America is in danger of being lost. We are not lost in the way \u201cColumbus\u201d once was lost. We have a GPS location. But lost we are, none the less. We have lost our way. \u00a0We have forgotten who we are. \u00a0We have forgotten that in becoming a blended nation of many different ethnicities, we do need to lay down some of our autonomy in order to get along with our brothers and sisters. \u00a0What family does not have squabbles and fights. \u00a0But they also protect and care for each other against common enemies. \u00a0An enemy of \u00a0one is an enemy of all. \u00a0If you hurt one part, you hurt the whole. \u00a0We are not black or white or rich or poor. \u00a0We are American!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0There is so much that is good in America! \u00a0Yes, we have \u201cfamily\u201d problems and room for improvement. \u00a0But somehow we have forgotten we ARE family! \u00a0If you live in the United States, you\u00a0drive the same roads and breathe the same air and listen to the same news that I do. \u00a0My skin may be a different color. \u00a0I may be taller, poorer, more or less intelligent than you\u2026..but plop us both down in Yellowstone on the same day and we would enjoy the same beautiful God-given views of OUR national park.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0This is OUR country. \u00a0The citizens killed are OUR citizens. \u00a0The police killed are OUR police. \u00a0There are Americans of every ethnicity, social background, and religious persuasion. \u00a0These differences make us rich \u00a0\u00a0They should not be what divides us. \u00a0They DON\u2019T divide most of us. \u00a0Most of us have a friend\u00a0whose skin color is different from ours. \u00a0Most of us work side by side with someone who holds a different life philosophy or religious belief. \u00a0Most of us shop at stores with others who have\u00a0 much more (or less) in their wallets. \u00a0We share more than what divides us. \u00a0It is just that we are being encouraged to focus on what divides us!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We need to focus on what we have in common. \u00a0Then we will care more. \u00a0Then we will have a greater ability to hear what others are saying and feel what they are feeling. \u00a0\u00a0 We will hurt more when our neighbor hurts. \u00a0 It won\u2019t be us and them \u00a0It will be JUST US.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Right now neither political party gets it. \u00a0Our politicians thrive on division. They want you on one side of a fence or another. \u00a0You have a choice between Republican and Democrat, when in reality most Americans are not squarely in either camp. \u00a0Both sides have a little right and a lot wrong. \u00a0BOTH SIDES AREN\u2019T LISTENING!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We are a melting pot. \u00a0That is why we are such a delicious and wonderful country. \u00a0I am not meat and you a \u00a0potato. \u00a0We are all in the same stew together! \u00a0Let us remember to care for each other and stop letting others poison\u00a0us. \u00a0Enough already! \u00a0We all need to quit trying just to get our opinions across and need to start trying to listen \u00a0to what others are saying when they disagree. \u00a0We may not change our mind but at least we may begin to understand another family member&#8217;s \u00a0point of \u00a0view.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The beauty of America lies in its diversity. \u00a0We are a melting pot. \u00a0A stew of sorts. \u00a0And we are all in this same stew together! \u00a0It is not helpful to think of Americans as discreetly different groups. We are different and have differences, but we also share commonalities. \u00a0 We are more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5WySj-3U","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=242"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doctormomx4.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}