Two years and one month ago, America watched as a suburb in St. Louis named Ferguson was ablaze with unrest.
Since those days, it seems as if every week there’s a new story about an unarmed black man killed by police, or an ambush-style attack that leaves other officers dead or wounded.
The past two years, America has seen countless renditions of phrases that have become incredibly overused. “Black Lives Matter” vs. “All Lives Matter” has turned into a debate where there should be none.
The United States has turned into a nation busying itself with debate over which phrase is more appropriate to place on a picket sign. Rather than focusing on dealing with the problems of this great country, Americans have gotten into a massive cyclical debate over whose deaths should be more widely mourned.
There are black families that are destitute and broken in the massive urban centers of America. There are white families addicted to injecting themselves with heroin in the rural communities of America’s heartland. There are Hispanic families that fear one of our nation’s presidential candidates will attempt to deport them, along with 11 million others.
People of all backgrounds, ethnicities and religions find themselves scared and fearful of the future. The common denominator is they are all Americans.
This massive nation, both in size and population, is destined to have big problems. But Americans can work together — no matter skin tone or racial identity — to fix these issues.
Some will continue to claim that Black Lives Matter is an illegitimate movement because some police officers have been killed in horrific shootings. Others will continue to claim that those officers did not deserve to live because they are part of a profession that has historically been known to oppress people of color.
These citizens can refuse this imagined dichotomy and acknowledge the truth — they do not need to pick one life or the other. Society can have both. Men and women of all races deserve to feel safe.
America is suffering from many great sicknesses. The sicknesses of racism, sexism and general xenophobia have been with this country since its inception. But I contend that the greatest sickness Americans suffer from is the sickness of the ego.
Americans’ obsession with themselves has gripped this country with a deep-set narcissism that they cannot seem to escape. Anything that threatens the American identity is hated and feared.
From the lowly internet blogger obsessed with proving feminists wrong to the democrat in the nation’s capitol that believes all Republicans are Nazis and refuses to work with them, this nation faces gridlock and an inability to compromise.
If Americans wish to create a world free from hate, they must first create a world free of the ego. All it takes is a conscience effort to not base actions on the irrational fear and hate that egos often facilitate.
Once Americans stop focusing on making themselves feel right, and instead begin focusing on making the world right, there will be real change in this country. Once the human ego is removed from the equation, society will no longer have to worry if “Blue Lives” or “Black Lives” matter more. America can finally be, as the great Martin Luther King Jr. put, “free at last.”
Sam Balas can be reached at [email protected]