COMMON GROUND

by John Springston

It's easy for us as a people to get so entangled in our own lives that we forget how many of us there really are out there. That happens when your dealing with trying times and distractions in our face constantly to keep us from looking at the real issues.

But one of the main things i've learned is this:

You can blame race, religion, sex, drugs or people in general for all of the problems, but at the end of the day we're all in the same boat and it's sinking fast. We have got to learn as a people that differences are a good thing, they help us to see all sides of a problem, and challenge us to search for better solutions. I for one would rather agree to disagree than to in vain disagree to agree.

We have to stop fighting for the sake of fighting and start considering for once using that energy to find healthy middle-ground solutions. We're tired of getting nowhere, all of us. And it's time to pick a direction. We can go forward together or go down the same dark and broken road.

We've learned from our mistakes, in that we know they're mistakes, but we have not tried hard enough to correct them. In our country today we have an energy crisis, a healthcare crisis, a housing crisis, an enviroment crisis, a government spending crisis, all of these being very serious issues and all of them happening right under our noses in a very short period of time.

How long will it be before we've hit bottom and are forced to act?

How long will it be before we're sickened enough by our politicians, and the media, and ourselves to stand up and truly give a damn again. Make real effort towards progression.

Are you where you thought you'd be in life now, or better yet where you want to be? Because i'm sure as hell not, but I keep fighting to make it somewhere better, somewhere that I can make a difference.

We don't have to go down the same road everyone else has, and to those who do go down that road: You CHOOSE to.

No one is forced to lay down in this world, it's a decision.