To the editor:

Our country is divided; or so the polls will have us believe. We must come to common ground, and meet each other in the middle, is the advice. But what is this common ground? Perhaps we can seek unity around what the shared characteristics of all Americans are. If this is possible, I will suggest that one of the traits that is common to us Americans (generally speaking, of course) is that we are quickly incensed by what we perceive as an injustice.

Protesting vociferously against injustice, done to oneself or to others, is an admirable American quality indeed. However, to be so easily riled, so easily beguiled, is to make oneself vulnerable to the baits of poorer elements of modern journalism and social media, hungry for our attention and clicks, and play into the hands of politicians who are looking to convert negative emotions of the populous into votes. Most politicians are not virtuous leaders — we cannot be naive to this fact. Politicians are not born, they are excreted, said Cicero.

We all prescribe deeply pondering complex issues that have opposing views, understanding those opposing viewpoints, and even engaging in a mock exercise of arguing from the opposite side. But do we practice the same discipline ourselves? Can we be leisurely to judge, especially if our judgment is inclined to sow further hatred in our hearts for our fellow Americans?

There is value in suspended judgement. Must we have opinions on everything under the sun? Most of what requires our focus in life is present right before us, in the here and now, begging for our involvement. Before we concern ourselves with the grander issues of the entire country, perhaps we can learn to bear greater warmth for our neighbors (who we will almost always find to be more similar to us than not, in all our shared American traits and tribulations), and act to make the small towns we share better. Must we wade into all issues, and distract ourselves into merely becoming sources of advertising revenue for the media? Must we partake in every dance our politicians invite us to dance, on our way to the ballot box?

I leave you with a quote from Lincoln (undoubtedly, a rare counterexample to Cicero’s model of a politician): “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

Unite!

Regards,

Nandan Pai

Plattsburgh