Our Opinion: We’re getting nowhere

Published 6:30 am Saturday, September 4, 2021

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Texas Legislature passed a new bill severely limiting abortions in the state.

Fights ensue.

COVID-19 rampages in a pandemic that’s on to year two.

Email newsletter signup

Fights ensue.

Vaccine’s ready to be distributed.

Fights ensue.

Masks — they should be worn and can help stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Fights ensue.

Star Wars releases a new show.

Fights ensue.

This is just a minor snapshot of what has been an ugly evolution of how we interact with each other,and while none of them at their base have anything in common, they all share a common outcome — fights ensue.

It seems we can’t do anything anymore without fighting about it, as it all swirls down the drain in a devolving conversation of Right vs. Left.

Remember the good ole days when there was right, left and center, and while there were disagreements, people in leadership found a way to break through to get things accomplished? It really wasn’t that long ago in the grand scheme of things now was it?

But that has wholly changed as the softest issues end with finger pointing and the blame game.

Sadly, this squabbling, like children who don’t get their way, has spilled over to schools across the nation as school board meetings have turned into shouting matches over only wanting to protect children and wanting to ensure a full school year can be had by wearing a thin piece of fabric.

Look at our situation and you’ll notice that oftentimes these pointless squabbles on a wide range of subjects deteriorate into the background of whether or not somebody is more American than the other side.

It’s all relative.

We’re not here to push for mandates (if anything we’re pushing for common sense, but that’s a different editorial). What we are attempting to press in this opinion is trying to convince you that we are all American and we all can enjoy the freedoms given to us in our great nation — if you will take the time to see a common ground.

Differences will not go away, and sometimes they will become heated and argumentative. But they don’t have to fall immediately to vitriol that defines differences in terms of Right and Left.

In our fairly short existence, we don’t have time for chest beating and one-upmanship, not if we want to continue boasting that we are the greatest nation in the world.

Take the time to appreciate other viewpoints and by all means disagree, but think about this.

When was the last time a problem was solved by shouting the loudest?