The United States is becoming a place that is more and more divided, more separated as a people. The States are a place that has symbolized freedom, diversity, and difference, but there needs to be a point where we can see what separates us and return it to a puzzle-like unity. I believe that a push for traditional values will bring back the West and help us become one nation, not divided by its own.
Diversity is one thing that we can’t get rid of here, and it isn’t something we should get rid of. We are home to many religions, peoples, and different demographics of populations spread out through this amazing country. Sadly, as we have diversified more and more (especially politically), we have seen division that causes us to be in a position that weakens us as a nation.
There is a quote from the Bible that Abraham Lincoln uses in a speech that ties very closely to how I am perceiving some of the downfall this country is rapidly declining towards each and every year. The quote goes:
“A house divided against itself cannot stand,” which was used in a speech given by Lincoln in 1858, referencing the growing tensions between the North and South on laws relating to slavery.
Whether in the context of the Bible or the speech given to us by the 16th President of the United States, we can convey a lot from this message, and it stands true to this day, whether written 2,000 years ago in the Gospels of the Holy Bible or in the 1800s by a man who would change the course of the future for the United States for the better.
I believe that one way we can eradicate the division that is unnecessary is by bringing back the urge for traditional values. To expand on this, as a nation, we should focus on the impact of a nuclear family. Family-centered values bring together the domestic side of our interactions; we can grow our youth in an environment that brings better people into our society.
We need to revitalize the traditional value of artwork—whether that be in our architecture, music, or so on. We need art that inspires, not that we just look past. We need things that make us happier and excel in creativity and joy. I can go on and on about certain things we need that would fulfill the values necessary for us, but all I will say is we need a culture change.
We need to change our daily lives and bring it back to being something where each day has meaning, where we can be people again, where we can be out of our devices and more focused on the now than anything else. When we go back to our roots and maintain traditional values, we learn to function better as one, function as a society. The interaction that stems from these values introduces new ways of connection, ways that ignore the diversity and strengthen our unity.
People need to set their phones down, not work every hour of the day, and settle down to find that all people are people. We can all be one if we focus on the good, focus on what makes us better, and bring back traditional values.
