One of the things that started this series for me is the question that titles this post: Are we better off?

I think 2016, and the 2016 election really sucked for a lot of us, and we’re all having to react and change. Almost everyone I know has uttered some sentiment that the times we’re living through kind of suck. It seems to come down to two basic camps:

You thought the entire country was further along than we are, progressing nicely, and you were inspired by hope and progress. Now you’re wondering what most of your country mates are thinking?
You think the world around you has changed for the worse. Where we used to have morals and ethics, law and order, it’s now a free for all and you don’t understand how people can embrace the downward trend in morality and legality?

Both perspectives are short sighted.

If you fit into the first camp, the election of a black president does not push the pendulum on its own. It is, still, up to citizens make changes on their own. And, pendulums also go backward. Judging and labelling those you feel are ‘behind’ you politically does not help like you think it does. Being active and being superlative are the ways to go.
If you think morality and law and order were in place on a governmental level, you are mistaken. The “morality” in place created governmental norms that allowed oppression, encouraged discrimination, and said only certain citizens had rights. Law and Order, also, were on the side of the racial, economic majority. They were not commonplace.

Now, I’m no expert on things governmental, racial, or economically related. All I am is a person that knows and likes a lot of different types of people.

I, too, thought 2016 sucked. The election was bad, but our reactions to it all may be worse yet. I believe in action more than words, which is ironic in the sense that my action is words. But my goal is to create a dialogue. To encourage all my readers to look into themselves and ask how they can be more kind, generous, forgiving, helpful. How, in other words, can we cross the divide we all feel to be better, more well-rounded citizens?

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For the previous post in the series (pt I), click here or:

Pt. I