There are just a few days left in 2019. It seems natural to reflect on where we have been. It’s also time to consider where we are going. If next year is anything like this year, it’s bound to be rough.
It’s plain to see that we are a deeply divided nation. With a national election next year, 2020 is likely to be another year of tumult. I’m not going out on a limb when I predict 2020 will be filled with crudeness, outrage and turmoil. Our house is in disarray.
Locally, Columbus will also face its own challenges. We will argue the national issues at home. Neighbors and families certainly disagree over the direction the nation is headed. Debates will devolve into name-calling and insults. Then, it will be impossible to find a middle ground.
We are ready to fight over local issues, too. We are already drawing the battle lines over the future of Columbus. Politics might irrevocably fracture personal relationships. That only brings pain.
Our nation and its communities have faced great division in the past. In 1968, the Vietnam War, racial injustice, violence and assassinations tore the nation apart. We were fortunate to come back together as a people. But looking at 2019, maybe that reunion was only temporary.
The greatest fracture in our history was, of course, the Civil War. In a vain attempt to avoid catastrophe, Abraham Lincoln urged Americans to find a better way. On the eve of war, Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address. He told the nation, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” Those words are as important now as they were in 1861.
Lincoln reminded Americans of their shared heritage. He urged the nation to remember the sacrifice made by so many to build a free and democratic nation. In one of the greatest speeches in American history, Lincoln said, “The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield 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.” Lincoln urged his fellow citizens to find another way. Ultimately, the southern states ignored those words and seceded. Four years of horrific bloodshed followed.
Lincoln appealed to the American people to put aside their hostility, greed and inhumanity to others. He wanted them to find the divine that lies in each one of us. Only then could the nation find a way to peace and equality.
Lincoln’s words are eloquent. They are thoughtful and sincere. They are not partisan. It’s also not a knee-jerk tweet tapped out on a phone in the middle of the night. It’s not a bogus Facebook post. Lincoln actually spoke those words.
That is what I want for 2020. I want eloquence. I want inspiration instead of anger. I am for keeping an open mind and forgiveness. I want virtue instead of partisanship. For 2020, I hope for mildness, kindness and introspection. I don’t ask for much.
