IF DIVORCE IS THE ONLY ANSWER, WHAT IS THE QUESTION???
Can we tawk???
OK, before we do, you have to read this article a friend recently sent me. It's this Op-Ed piece originally from the Los Angeles Times.
Please click here to read it. I’ll wait for you…
https://www.youtube.com/embed/7AOAH2lv3H0?start=21
Stirring?? Isn’t it?? I have been reading and rereading it since I received it and I still don’t know what I think?
Not true! I do know. Here are some of my thoughts.
Personally, I find it as humorous as the author meant it to be. However, almost as soon as I start laughing, I start crying about the utter tragedy of the whole idea. I’d love to say this is a new idea brought on by the political polarizations of the past president and his administration of four years culminating in the 2020 Presidential election, but that would not be the truth. Though I am no historian, I do know these differences were there from the very beginning. As the representatives of the original 13 states gathered in Philadelphia from 1774-1781 every difference written about in this Divorce, American Style article, was as pronounced then as it is now. This time frame included the 1776 meeting, where the delegates read George III of Great Britain the riot act in the form of the Declaration of Independence which doubled as our Declaration of War against England.
I would love to have been a fly on the wall (definitely a fly more better than a mosquito, don’cha think?) as they tried to hammer out their differences. And here is my own personal conclusion. They never did. You could say it was a pile up of differences; food, hobbies, language, culture, education and don't forget the heat. Yeah, maybe, a little of this, a little of that. I say nay! It was always all about slavery aka race. The success of the economic and political life of the South was based on the continued use and import of slaves kidnapped from Africa. And please spread the blame, from fellow Africans seeking to make a buck and settle their own political squabbles, to profits for the seafaring industry of the North. Ultimately, the largest consumers in the slave trade was the South which, at that time included Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. Maryland was borderline abusers/users. The Northern States were not absolved from abusing/using slaves. Simply put my friends, their numbers didn’t compare with the South.
I’m going on and on about slavery like it was the only issue because in my mind it is the only issue. Oh, sure, you have taxes, roads and many other state issues but none as huge, ugly and ever present as the story of slavery in this country.
Recently I read an article in the New Yorker about the Brits having their awareness jostled as they come to the realization of how many of the fabulous country houses in their National Trust Register were built on the backs of slaves from British plantations in the West Indies and Jamaica. Don’t even think about returning to Downton Abbey or Upstairs to the Downstairs. Or, is it the other way around?
Back to the article. I agree with much of what Mr. Vandevelder asked for in the divorce… I don’t feel that strongly about Las Vegas or Disneyland… aren’t they the same thing??
There have been so many attempts to leave each other over the years. One that cost the lives of 618,222 Americans. A number that up until the Vietnam War surpassed all other wars combined. No matter what they say about war, death is not a contest. But for your edification: North: 360,222. South: 258,000. North or South, War or Peace, Death SUCKS!!!
Here’s my conclusion and I am beyond ready to listen to all arguments, discussions, pro… con… sitting on a fence... or straddling. If you can’t honor the Constitution of the United States and all its laws and amendments, if you can’t allow someone to have a different opinion from your opinion, if the only way you can respect or accept a person of any color, religion or nationality is to enslave, cage or kill them, then this dream is done.
However, you should kow that I am always up for a last chance miracle.
The rise of the power of the internet, social and news media, promotes confusion, fear and anger to a pitch were we seem to have lost our abilities to listen or even hear each other. If we can’t understand or communicate, we might as well throw our humanity to the lions. And let me tell you something about lions. They are not dumb. Throw a person without his or her or their humanity to the lions they will take one sniff and ⚡️SHAZAM⚡️ ... VEGETARIANS!!]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2P5EuqoWuk
So??? What’s it to be??? Hope with a soupcon of peace and reconciliation and the return of when our humanity was delicious or...
THE END
Love, Sally-Jane ❤️
P.S. Oh, by the way this article was written in 2012. I am of the belief that the only constant in life is change... or is it?