The decades of fermenting suspicion, isolation, mistrust,
and division - by media and political organizations alike - have boiled
over, manifesting these rifts into physical violence on the streets of our
communities and in the halls of our uniquely American institutions.
At this pivotal juncture in our Union’s history, when it
would be easy to drown ourselves in the confluence of political extremism,
social outrage, and cancel culturalism, we must afford our futures a moment of
contemplation. We must realize the severity in the America we have become. We must choose whether we, as individual
citizens of this Grand Republic, truly desire our Constitutional miracle to fall
into oblivion, or instead rise to the potential forged by the generations who
have strived
to
deliver us this Promised Land.
We can no longer allow ourselves to look into
the faces of our compatriots and see only enemies undeserving of our respect or
dignity. We must channel our passion to act into an aspiration to listen, while
sharing the vigilance in the common defense
of the rights and freedoms that so many peoples were once denied. We must see
each other for the ties that bind us in fellowship, and in the shared visions
for prosperity. We must once more rekindle the patriotic love
for a Country that still represents the last best hope for all humanity.
I have journeyed in many political circles and in each have enjoyed
the company of outstanding personalities whose contributions to America’s
greatness were simple, yet immeasurably affirming. In bearing witness to
their efforts it is my hope that though our political views may vary sharply,
we will not continue to wield our resentment as a bludgeon. Rather, I hope we can withdraw from behind
our partisan barriers and converse with one another again, speaking the words
gifted to us from a common heritage of historic optimism.
Wil Levins
January 2021
