WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?

I know, I know...where have I been....who knows?  Maybe it was too much holiday...too much fruitcake...too much "whatever" that lulled me into a creative-free, no writing zone.  All I know is today I woke up with something to say.

I am simply amazed at the collective "Ah-hah" moment this country seems to be having on the heels of the tragic shooting in Arizona.  Can it really be that no one has noticed the insanity of meanness that is sucking the life out of our country until just a few days ago??? Or is this just another political ploy to lure us like lemmings as we continue to choose sides? 

Have we been under a rock somewhere?  Have we missed the increased lack of civility in our government?  The continuous ranting, 24-7, on the TV?  The venomous political ads that attacked us in our living rooms like shrapnel on the battlefield?

And it hasn't confined itself to just politics.  How about the children committing suicide over bullying and labels? Or the fact that now we need to have legislation to keep some wacko church from protesting the funeral of a little 9 year old girl because she was Catholic??? Dear God...and I really mean that...Dear God, we need help.

I read somewhere recently that the old argument of "I'm right, and you are wrong," (as bad as that was) is now, "I'm right, and you are evil." Really scary stuff.  We label everything and everyone and in doing that, we ignore and eventually forget the things that make us all the same.  We even have labels "within" our labels.  For example, in POLITICS, we have Republicans, Tea Party Republicans, Conservative Republicans, Moderate Republicans, Democrats, Blue-Dog Democrats, Progressive Democrats, and Independents. In CHRISTIANITY we have, Methodists, Baptist, Southern Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Fundamental Baptist, Free Will Baptist, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons....on and on and on and on...each little label signifies a group that proclaims, "I am more right than you are - so there!"
With PEOPLE, we have division by race and religion (even though we want to say that we don't), we have gays and straights, married and unmarried, fat or thin, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, geographic labels (Redneck Southerners, Crazy Californians, Uptight New Englanders, etc.) And the sad thing is that what I have listed barely scratches the surface of what is out there to divide us.

So...what can I do about it besides rant?  I can make a pledge to myself to not judge.  Now...I know I will have judgmental thoughts...but I don't have to express them.  I can make a pledge to myself, that my words will be kind, inclusive, and affirmative.  That is all I can do because I am the only one I have control over.

Now, how about you?