Reality is an intriguing concept. By its own definition it is the world or state of things as they actually exist, rather than how they are theorized or speculated to be. Reality is truth. Reality is tangible. We can see it around us, we experience it each day, we live within it. Though we are able to interact with reality, we cannot foresee it.
It is an ever-changing existence that we, as subjects, must react to. At times, we react on impulse; a reality comes to be that we disagree with, and so, we fight it. We attempt to alter it, to reverse its existence and return to the reality we found more desirable. Not all attempts of this are in vain, but often, over time, the reality that has set becomes one we adjust to, whether by force or through personal process.
When, in history, a new reality has become imminent, there has been a period of transition that precedes it. This period may last a day, it may last a year, but it does occur. It is a time where reflection is not an option, but a requirement of the people, a point where they can digest all that has occurred, to prepare for what may occur.
Such a period has come for the American people. Our president-elect has been decided, the future is sure to hold drastic change, but now, the people must reflect on what has happened. Look to the past year, the past four years, the past 10, and see what they have held.
In the present, time passes without being fully understood; it is only in remembering the past that we come to observe it completely. Now is the time to observe, it is the time to understand. Our country is continuing down a path of stark division, headed by individuals who proclaim themselves correct without listening to what the opposition has to say.
The people are not blind, they are deaf. Deaf to one another, deaf to conversation, deaf to the offer of collaboration. Though their leaders call for unity, however hollow their words, the people turn away and continue as they were. They ignore true change in favor of their own desires.
Our country may forever be split, it may forever have political divisions, but the problem does not come from such a separation. The problem arises when we are unwilling to listen to the opposition, to hear opinions that differ from our own, to allow those who disagree with us to speak and trust they are heard.
In the time before the New Year comes, and the 45th president takes his oath, allow yourself to step away. To breathe. We have overcome great obstacles, accomplished feats no one dared think we could, and how? How did we do such historical things, achieve as we did? As a country that fought and cursed at one another for holding different beliefs? As a people that defined themselves by two primary colors, by a donkey and an elephant, by a few generalized ideologies? No, we did so as a people united, as individuals willing to work with each other, to reach across the aisle a hand extended outward and have it grasped by another with whom they may disagree but that they were going to listen to.
Because they deserve to be heard, just as you do. Look not to how you may overcome the person across from you, how you may defeat them, subdue their beliefs in favor of your own. Rather, look to how you may come together, not as Republican and Democrat, but as American, wanting the best for the nation you share, not the one you fight over.
