I admit I'm guilty. Right after the tragedy on Saturday, I jumped on the bandwagon loaded down with all the Sarah Palin rhetoric. I admit that at times I enjoy reading diaries attacking the idiocy and madness of the far right.
My own bandwagon has always been about the lying. Be as mean and malicious as you want- as long as what you find so horrible is real. But that's another diary.
I agreed with President Obama when he talked about there not being Red States or Blue States, but just The United States. I understood then, two years ago, that the campaign had brought about way too much hate which left no room for debate.
During the past two years, that hate tore apart my family, so much so that this past Christmas we were only eight, when we used to be twenty-three. I "lost" two sisters and my daughter. Relationships with several other family members are strained at best- the closeness is gone, replaced by mistrust and angry debate.
All because I am a liberal who voted for President Obama, and so now I am the 'enemy'.
President Obama spoke tonight about that divide with a sadness in his tone it made me cry. I miss my daughter and sisters, but I know right now the rift between us is so wide. I pray every night that they open their eyes and see how blinded they have become- believing all the hate filled lies and venom coming from the mouths of their 'leaders'.
I don't listen to the hate-filled rhetoric on the left. I don't read the diaries here that rant and rave about the rights rantings and ravings. Vent it out- no problem. I just don't choose to get involved. I wish more of the foolish followers on the right would do as I do. Stop listening.
About two thirds into President Obama's speech I looked across my living room to the portrait of Abraham Lincoln I have hanging on my wall. Underneath is a framed copy of The Gettysburg Address- and it hit me.
This was President Obama's "Gettysburg Address. We really need to stop fighting and come together as one nation. Or this Civil War can very easily become real.