Lines in the Sand

America has become a nation of lines drawn in the sand. Cooperation and compromise have become ugly words rarely spoken. What happened to the middle of the road? What happened to the road? Americans have become tribal. The dichotomies are too deeply drawn. Voices have become too loud, too insistant. It's us against them, not We the People. How do we work ourselves back to “one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all?” It starts at the ballot box. It continues with open discussions over dinner tables and in coffee rooms and at backyard barbeques. We don't have to agree all the time but we need to listen as loudly as we speak. What happens when you draw a line in the sand? You either have to move it or bleed on it. I think working together in the sandbox, building castles, is the better way. I think we will find that there is more that unifies us than divides us, if we pay attention. We can start by sharing our love of country and our love of freedom, and build from there.