It’s Time to Heal the Nation

To the Editor: 
I am writing to the Herald to share an idea to help heal our country and to bring us together. There has been too much division in this country for too long and lately, it has gotten out of hand.
It is a sad day when a high school teacher refuses to allow his students to watch the inauguration of the president because he does not consider the elected president legitimate, or to see young children holding up signs expressing hate, or to hear college students calling the president Hitler.
Burning cars, trashing stores, and threatening to do violence are not the way to bring about change. It is fine to express your views but we must remember that we are Americans first and since we pledge allegiance to our flag, isn’t it time that we all come together to work toward making America the nation that says all people are created equal and that we are a nation under God?
I do not believe that calling names, or calling African Americans who visit President Trump, “mediocre negroes” (CNN TV), creating a “resistance movement” or by using any means to keep the president from trying to make our country prosper for all people will work.
We need to do what is in the best interest of all our citizens. We are not Democrats or Republicans, we are all Americans and we must do what we can to heal the divisions that divide us.
If we are honest with each other then we need to acknowledge that much needs to be done; we need to fix our infrastructure, fix our schools, create jobs that pay more than the minimal wage, end violence in our poorest neighborhoods, train our youth for real jobs, end racism, create alternative means of travel to end the dependency on the automobile (a major polluter of our air), find a way to stop the opioid epidemic that is destroying families and killing too many black youth, support our veterans, support research to end cancer, and dementia, etc., and finally, to end discrimination.
I would like to propose that all Americans pray to their God asking for His blessing on our president and nation so that we heal and work toward reconciliation. The power of prayer is real. Just think what is possible if every church, temple, mosque, synagogue, Mormon temple, or faith came together to pray, asking God or whomever you pray to, to transform our leaders and country so that once again we are one nation, one people, striving for justice for all. Prayer is transformative.
What has been happening is not working and we need to try another way.