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United We Stand

Dear Editor,

These times have become filled with a disturbing level of heated rhetoric seemingly intended to promote division, conflict, and an “us vs. them” mentality here in our great nation, often causing us to lose sight of the numerous and more significant things which unite us as Americans.

Certainly our current President seems to revel in his long-standing pattern of belittling, insulting, humiliating, name-calling and putting down any who criticize or disagree with him, and to add “fuel” to those fears and issues which promote such division and conflict for various personal and/or political reasons.

In addition, we are now beginning to learn more about how frighteningly active and skillful Russia has become in terms of successfully promoting such division and conflict both here and around the world to serve its own political goals, and how they have been developing and using increasingly sophisticated cyber-propaganda techniques targeting social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) to do so.

And so it is especially crucial now for all of us to be clearly aware of such forces acting upon us, to recognize that they are maliciously designed to inflame fear and anger, and to understand that they are purposefully intended to divide and set us against one another – to weaken and manipulate us, and to thus slowly pull our nation apart at the seams. And so we must all be automatically suspicious and question the motives of anyone whose words are obviously intended to spark fear, anger, disrespect, and division, and learn to use effective fact-checking and critical thinking skills while not falling into the trap of becoming dependent on just one source of news.

It is our responsibility as citizens to protect and fight for the values, freedoms and rights so magnificently set forth in our Constitution which provide the common ground which unites us as a nation. We must embrace our extraordinary diversity, realizing it is a strength rather than something to be feared; we must look past our differences and see the common goals, hopes and values which we all share; we must treat each other with compassion, kindness, and support — lifting each other up, not tearing each other down; we must treat each other in a civil and respectful manner, even when we disagree on some issues; and surely we must re-learn how to work together for the common good.

These are the values, put into action by each of us on a day-to-day basis, which can truly make America great again. And so it falls on each of us to do our parts to keep America from slipping further into the darkness and chaos currently being stirred up by some in power to serve their own self-centered goals.

United we stand — divided we fall. Wise words which seem to be particularly applicable and vitally important for all of us to remember right here and right now in our great nation.

Respectfully submitted,

Dale E. Buonocore,

Warren

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