The Divided States of America

Independence Day fast approaches and with it various reminders of our past.  Perhaps you remember from high school seeing pictures of a yellow flag, with a the image of a snake cut up into eight parts, each part labeled with the name of one of the original colonies, with just one piece for New England.  Do you remember the words on that flag?  You may be thinking "Don't Tread on Me"--and you would be partially right.  It did appear that way in a second iteration.  But originally it said, "Join or Die."  It was created by Benjamin Franklin to accompany an editorial calling for colonial unity in which he wrote of, in his words, "the extreme difficulty of bringing so many different [groups] to agree in any speedy and effectual Measures . . . . " (Pennsylvania Gazette, 5-9-1754)  Maybe we should be hanging that flag out today, for if we are honest, we are far from united as a nation. In fact on many fronts we are deeply, seriously divided.  And not just politically, though certainly that as well.  There are significant economic, cultural, racial and moral issues which reflect our divisions.  We cannot seem to agree on much of anything.  Perhaps we should refer to ourselves the way Franklin did in that editorial.  Maybe we should just call ourselves the Divided States.

But I am convinced we can do better, if we are only willing to take seriously three basic ideas.

One, we must recognize that our lives, our stories, are interwoven.  We live in a perpetual state of mutuality, and what impacts one of us,  impacts us all.

Two, we must be willing to step across, reach across, traditional boundaries and barriers, we must begin to see those who are different from us as our potential partners.

Three, we should seek to meet the needs of those most endangered ahead of the needs of those in power, those who are well resourced already.

It seems rather simple, but the truth is it's a rather tall order.  But it can be done.  We have seen it done before.

In the weeks following 9/11 we heard a lot about the need to be united--"united we stand" proclaimed posters everywhere.  Still, there was a fair amount of vitriole being spilled, and some of the anger directed at American Muslims.  One mosque a few miles from my church in Connecticut, held a meeting to help inform people about Islam.  Some 200 folks attended--almost all of them came to learn, not to heckle.  Many of the mosque's members spoke of the fear they were experiencing.  One Muslim woman told how she was afraid to leave her own home--even to go to the neighborhood grocery store.  Suddenly one of the non-Muslim women in the audience stood up.  "Here's my phone number," she said to the frightened woman.  "When you want to go to the store, just call me, and I'll go too."

As we approach Independence Day, it is my hope that we can rise to the occasion once again.  That we can work to heal the divide.  So that we can truly be the United States of America, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.