The Dissolution of Gray

America is at a crossroads.

What has been the norm in this country has now become exception. America today is as polarized as I have seen it in my lifetime. Everything is either black, or white.

There’s no gray. Not anymore.

Many issues Americans are dealing with have immense implications on the future of this country. We are dealing with the War on Terror, gay rights, abortion, prison overcrowding, gasoline prices, poor education and poverty, just to name a few. How we choose to deal with all of this today, determines how our children will live tomorrow. It is an overwhelming responsibility.

Just how are we dealing with it?

Not well.

What we are doing is fighting with each other so intensely, that we are forgetting something we learned as kids. We have forgotten how to compromise. We have forgotten that one person doesn’t always have to be right and one person wrong. Sometimes, both can be.

Often times, both are wrong. Oh, they aren't wrong because neither one is right; they are wrong because they fail to understand that they are two unique individuals with two unique opinions. They are wrong because neither one can accept the others' position.

I was thinking the other day about the issue of abortion. There are quite a few people who are “pro-choice” and just as many who are “pro-life” (I love those labels. Does that mean one is anti-life or pro-death?). Very few people have no opinion at all. To make the situation worse, so many of us are so combative about it.

I personally have a preference. I believe in choice. However, not in the same way “pro-choicers” do. I believe that the choice has to be made by three people. The mother, of course, the father (if possible), and the one whose life is about to be cut short. There are certain circumstances that I feel an exception should be made. I believe that if the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother, if the child was conceived out of incest, thus causing considerable physical and emotional issues and if the child was the product of a rape, then abortion should be an option.

However, this is only my view. I'm sure there are other examples that I'm not considering, but you get the idea. However, I do not have the right to force my view on to you. The point I am trying to make is that just because I feel strongly about my views on abortion, it doesn’t mean I’m right. In America, we have an avenue to decide what we need to do. It’s called voting. One of the fundamental laws in this country is the right and freedom to vote. If you believe as I do, then vote in a leader who will share your view.

Of course, this does not always work. If that were the only deciding factor, then this country may look quite a bit different. The laws we vote for must be constitutional and must follow the Bill of Rights. If people voted to restore slavery, the courts would obviously overrule it. That goes without saying.

Why are we so polarized? I think it has to do with the fact that we live at a time that there is so much information being broadcast into our lives that we just don’t have the time to work out alternatives. We spend so much energy fighting our points; we don’t have the strength to compromise.

I remember just a few years ago, during the buildup to the 2000 election, the conventional wisdom was that 30-35% of Americans were definitely voting for Gore and 30-35% would go for Bush. The remaining votes, swing-voters, would determine the race. Today, those numbers are much, much lower. According to some of the latest polls, over 90% of voters have already decided. And it’s only May!

Now I am not suggesting that Kerry and Bush should share the office, but what I am saying is that this is the norm in the United States and it isn’t just about politics or abortion. It’s about polarization. I wonder how many people who are going to vote have any real understanding of the issues. It’s amazing. I still hear people claim that Bush is bad because the war was only about oil. Yeah, right. I paid $2.17 at the pump today in Chicago. Likewise, I hear people say that Kerry is un-patriotic because he argued against the Vietnam War. This too, is absurd. In this age of 10-second sound bites, people are easily fooled. They hear what they want to hear and have no time for discussion.

This has become a black and white country. Rest in peace, gray.