The Divided States (people) of America

THE UNITED STATES IS MORE DIVIDED NOW than at any time since the Civil War itself, the war between the states, the division to end all divisions. If today's polarization gets much worse, we might be in trouble. Look for Texas to secede on the right, and California on the left, with the good ole U.S. of A. tucked in between. Precisely how are we divided? By race? Rich versus poor? Left versus right? Even though we know not for sure the exact nature or cause of this division, we know its here, all around us. Whatever it is, I would personally like to be part of the solution. At present, I am part of the problem. Oh well. At least I'm involved. I lost friends over the election. So did millions of us Americans. Families were forced to cancel Thanksgiving celebrations. The friends I lost I consider to be on the other side of the great American divide, but who knows? Perhaps it is best to nurture friendship with people on the same side of the great American divide. Perhaps the division is not into two groups, but into hundreds of millions. Maybe we're not so much polarized, as atomized. American culture, studies reveal, is currently engorging itself on narcissism. Does that mean we spend most of our time taking selfies? Self awareness is healthy, self absorption is not. Diversity of opinion and circumstance is healthy, hatred and violence are not. We don't want another war between ourselves, but the last thing we want to do, here in the U.S. of A., is to go through some super melodramatic national healing process, and embark on an orgy of nationalism and hyper patriotism, similar to that which infected Germany before both world wars one and two. Our modern American wars do more to divide than unify us, and we sure as hell do not want another World War Two to bring us together. And I wouldn't put it past Trump to try just that. His approval rating, as president elect, is barely forty percent, pitifully low, but not nearly as low as it might soon go. If Trump declares war on China or the American media or the America left wing, most Americans would probably sign up to fight for his chosen enemy.