The Divided States of America

Certain life events may become so deeply etched into our psyche that they can be triggered by sight, sound, or smell, e.g. the first kiss, leaving home, or our first love. Religious rituals and cultural holidays are examples of how such visceral reactions can be integrated into our daily lives.

A personal example was my initial arrival in America, a virtual nightmare with no family, language skills, or cultural familiarity. Contrast that with the euphoria I felt ten years later when I finally received my Green Card and, with it, the certainty of knowing I was here for good as a newly minted American.

This feeling of freedom reemerges every Fourth of July and every election cycle, as I imagine how our Puritan forefathers must have regarded their immigration from England as a re-enactment of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. To them, England was the equivalent of Egypt, the King that of the Pharaoh, the ocean crossed the Red Sea, and America was the new Land of Israel.

Today our great nation is deeply divided, whether it is the Left or Right, Blue or Red, Urban or Rural, Pro-life or Pro-choice, or pitting parents vs. teachers for the responsibility to educate our children. It is fine to be divided as a nation, and use States’ rights as laboratories of democracy, as long as we ultimately come together and remember E Pluribus Unum.

At the local level, last month we had the privilege of hosting Bob Yates to talk about his vision for Boulder, and concluded Bob is the ideal candidate to foster arts and culture in Boulder and orchestrate the establishment of our next Chautauqua.  On August 22nd, we will have the honor to host Mayor Aaron Brocket, who is seeking re-election, thereby learning more about his vision for Boulder’s future, in particular the most compassionate way to deal with our unhoused population.

While Mayor Aaron Brockett does not claim special expertise in the field, as there really are no such experts, he does approach the issue as essentially a societal problem we own together, to be solved by working together as a community. 

Participating in our upcoming local election will keep alive the vision of our Founding Fathers, instead of watching their American Dream turn into a nightmare.

— Sina.