America is Sick

On the very streets that Americans were exercising their first and second amendment rights, our sister and brother were killed by our own government. This is an undisputed fact and there are two camps of reasoning which have evolved. Both are equally sick.

The first group condones and justifies our government’s actions. The second flatly condemns it and is outraged by these murders. Those who approve this government action face the possibility that it could very well happen to themselves or for that matter any American.

On the other side, watching our very own citizens gunned down on our very own streets in front of our very own eyes by our very own government in real time has sickened the rest of us. There are only two understandings of what is going on in America and both come with the same conclusion. We are sick and this illness is not going away.

Simply put, we approve these killings versus we denounce these murders is the dilemma. Either way we are sick for accepting this outcome and we are sickened by allowing this outcome to happen.

Where does this illness come from? Garbage in equals garbage out. Our toxic diets of siloed one-sided opinions feed our non-critically thinking minds. We diagnose the other side avoiding ever looking in the mirror at our own malignant perspectives. We cannot even see ourselves in ourselves anymore. We only see the “other” deformed side. We are so grotesquely obsessed with winning at all costs that we cannot see in plain sight the vile sores attached to us. We only see those who disagree with us and thus label them evil monsters. “How can anyone think that? Are they a cult? Are they brainwashed?” are being asked by both sides equally. We have become so consumed with our side, our team, our color that our first response is attack. Our eyes are closed to empathy. Compassion is drowned out by fear. Decency is viewed as a sign of weakness. We are slowly decaying, America.

We have lost our minds to “correctism” – being right in any argument regardless of what is good, fair or common sense. We vomit on each other, and in the process, America rots from the inside.

Our neighbors and allies used to admire us. We were the envy of the world. The beacon for other countries to emulate. Now, we are the plague no country wants to engage with, the unwanted cancer no one wants to touch, the virus only we can cure, if it is not too late.

Our reckoning comes at 250 years of existence. Now is our Jerry McGuire moment. With an honest look inside ourselves, we do find a way out before our civilization implodes. We had Lincoln leading us through our civil war. Yet Lincoln is not around to starve this cold or cool this fever and no one is stepping up to be Honest Abe. Our only savior is the mirror.

So, look in the mirror America. Our lives are representations of our choices. We are sponges of past decisions. Look closely, America, because if we look directly at ourselves, we can see a festering plank in our eye. If we do not see our true reflection, we will implode into the abyss of chaotic viral pus. The only difference is a virus is structured and purposed for survival; we are so obsessed with fighting each other we have lost our allies, our friends and if we are not careful our souls.

Farmer Banks Helfrich teaches gardening monthly at Florida Blue Clermont and on his seven-acre farm which includes15 different instructional gardens. Farm tours are every 2nd Sunday. Call Banks for more information. (407) 616-9720