Being a writer often forces you to reflect on what you’re writing about and why. Why do I care in this situation? What draws me to this story or topic? You’ll often find yourself at a discourse, writing passionately about a subject, then suddenly wonder why you give a damn at all. Because honestly, many things that we’re passionate about don’t have little to no effect on us. They aren’t even a part of our day-to-day lives until we hear about them. So, I have to ask people who don’t live in Charlottesville this simple question: Why? This isn’t a monument that most of you were even knew existed. I doubt most of you have personal ties to Robert E. Lee himself. Is this a statue that you’ve even seen in person? Is General Lee someone you admire? Does it represent a time in our country that we truly want to remember? General Robert E. Lee even opposed depictions of the Confederacy, and its leaders, under the belief that they would deter the nation from healing after the war. So, if those who actually represented the Confederacy didn’t support the erection of these statues, then why do you?
Americans Need to Take a Step Back
I want to start off by condemning the acts committed by white supremacists in Charlottesville. The “Alt-Right”, a guise adopted by ultra-conservative whites in this country, is a pseudo-political alignment striving for white supremacy. Their belief system is not in line with American virtues and has no place in this country. However, I believe that our nation has finally reached a discourse in racially fueled violence. Both the Radical Left and Radical right have killed for the sake of their perspective causes, further perpetuating angst and hatred amongst this country’s citizens. Political Radicalism, both violent and non-violent, is plaguing this nation. For this, I believe that it’s time for the American people to take a step back and shut their mouths for a moment.
It’s not a difficult task – simply press your lips together, breathe through your nose, and listen. The greatest thing about shutting your mouth is that you might just actually learn something from somebody. You may learn about their perspectives on life, perhaps see how those perspectives originated, and maybe, just maybe, you could begin to understand those who are different than you.
Keeping one’s mouth shut can often be difficult, considering that most of us are so enamored with ourselves that we can accept our faults. Many Americans express their angst over social media nowadays, which has provided the common folk with a public platform (a good thing) that many believe certifies them as an expert on any given topic (a bad thing). In actuality, the individuals expressing the strongest opinions over social media are usually the most grievously misinformed people out there.
Those individuals frequently preach radicalism, and are returned with a cultish following. No, I am not speaking about radical Islamic terror, though some may not understand what radicalism truly is on its own. Radicalism, in any sense of the term, calls for a dramatic systematic reform or change, and you can see this in American politics every day. It doesn’t matter if you’re the overly zealous Republican trying to “Drain the Swamp”, or the hyper-left liberal preaching for socialist reform, when you are way “out there,” you’re participating in radicalism. You may not be as extreme as the progressive social justice warriors rioting in the streets (great way to strive for peace), or the alt-right neo-Nazis spreading racial hatred, but radicals of either persuasion are members of the worst demographic in America.
Your preaching of radical ideologies is forced on “normal” Americans on a continuous basis. Your major media personalities and personal affiliates are masters of perpetuating your own dogma and self-serving rhetoric. Radicals are incapable of listening to the other side, and use their own opinions to sway the undecided (or weak-minded citizens) within this country. While I may identify as a Democrat, that doesn’t mean that my personal ideologies aren’t relatively centric. That does not mean that I can’t participate in a conversation with our other writer, Pops (R), and understand his perspective. The way I do this is by shutting my mouth (as challenging as it may be sometimes) and listening. At times, though Pops would never admit this on his end, we can even admit to being wrong. Crazy concept. A lot can be learned by listening to those with opposing views. I’ve been taking a break from posting for a while because I simply don’t have the patience to watch the “News”. The American people turn on “Fox & Friends”, or CNN’s “New Day”, and hear them preach their perspective messages as if it were the word of God. In reality, both are slightly less savvy versions of “The View” with a political twist. To the American people, I challenge you to do something. Wake up and read from a publication with an opposing view. Participate in a discussion with someone whose political affiliation differs from your own, and attempt to understand where they’re coming from. Trust me, it may be difficult at first, but you can do it. 
I’ll leave you with this: If everyone does nothing but speak their piece, but nobody listens to what is being said, how will we ever make progress?
Pops Responds: Nobody ever learned anything from words that came out of their own mouth.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s one of the most well-known phrases from the Declaration of Independence, but it also serves as a platform for the American dream. These basic principles inspire people to come to this country in order to improve their quality of life. While some people come to this place to escape some sort of persecution, many simply want to improve their condition. However, though I understand the concept of the American Dream from a practical view, the philosophical notion of such a thing seems somewhat contradictory. You see, happiness stems from contentment. Contentment simply rests upon the notion that people are “fine” with the way things are around them. If this is true, then one would have to first seek being content with their quality of life before being happy. Thus, our sense of discontent leads to contentment. It’s a strange concept, but it isn’t farfetched by any means.
If someone seeks to make a positive change, they must first identify a given problem and experience feelings of discontent. So, many act in a manner to achieve a desired state. While some succeed, others completely fail. Interestingly enough, attempting to reach this state may result in further discontent. If we are to look further, it is built within the human condition that we must achieve more than being merely content; thus, we become upset with what we have earned thus far and seek to improve our conditions even further. That is the Pursuit of Happiness to its very core. Seeking something higher than one’s current status, no matter what someone’s current status may be.
“The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” Benjamin Franklin
So, our discontent pushes us further into that pursuit, to which we set another bench mark. However, once that bench mark is met, we seek to reach yet another bench mark and yet another after that. No matter what. No matter how hard we try to pursue happiness, we continuously fall into that same feeling of discontent. It’s interesting that the Pursuit of Happiness can turn into a Pursuit of Perfection, and within that Pursuit of Perfection, we do not only abolish the notion of contentment, but sink into discontent and eventually sadness. Our inability to consistently obtain something more, to truly reach the pinnacle of happiness, often makes us miserable.
American Politics mirror American life. No matter how often actions are taken to improve the lives of Americans, we still find a way to be critical of those actions. It could simply be due to discontent with a given political party, or it could be resulting from us discrediting any given accomplishment to “not being enough”. However, just as in life, our inability to reach the desired level of perfection creates discontent amongst the American people. That discontent insights a sense of misery, which eventually stems into the chaos we are witnessing today. Now, some may critique my argument saying that contentment will never insight positive change, but that is not my intention. Ultimately, we must continue the Pursuit of Happiness while not losing our current sense of contentment, for when we do, the pressure of failure detracts from our ultimate goal. As Americans, as human beings, we should be able to recognize the things we are content with while simultaneously pursuing happiness. If we neglect to do so, it only appears that our quality of life will continue to suffer with the passage of time.
POPS says:
I think that what Southpaw is saying is that the key to happiness is accepting those things that we cannot change, and changing those things that we cannot accept.
(And don’t let anyone else tell you what may or may not be changeable.)
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