Viewpoint: Set partisan politics, rhetoric aside during Thanksgiving

Wyatt Clark

As Thanksgiving fast approaches this week, individuals around the state and the nation prepare themselves for the torrent of debate on all political matters.

However, this year I would ask each one of us that we set aside our political differences and look at each other not as debate opponents, but as family and friends. Our nation is fractured, and every day new battlelines are being drawn in some further aspect of our lives, pitting family members against one another.

Hyper partisanship has never allowed this nation to achieve great things; rather, our greatest moments have always come when we have stood collectively and united as one people.

There was a time in our history when people’s personalities weren’t defined by who they voted for in the last election, and for every fearful or disillusioned individual upset with this nation’s state of affairs, let this be the moment where we work to break down the barriers.

Disagreement is not synonymous with hate. In a day where partisanship seems inevitable, where party politics demand that we must pick a side and fight, I’d ask that we reject this belief.

We approach a day to give thanks, to celebrate not every political battle we’ve one or how terrible the liberal progressives or ultra-conservatives are, but instead, to celebrate the life we’ve been given and the future that we will achieve together.

We’re better than petty squabbling, this nation has the potential to be a shining example to the rest of the world, and what is required of us is no herculean task, but a simple action, that we should be kind, caring, and loving to those whom with which we disagree. It is when we begin to view each other in a new light that we can truly begin to create an America we can all be proud of.

Happy Thanksgiving.