America: Where do we go from here?

Editor’s Note: Blooming Prairie sophomore Molly Robbins achieved first place in the VFW Auxiliary Voice of Democracy Contest. She earned a $100 cash award. She delivered her winning essay at the Memorial Day program.
Where do we go from here? In my life, I’ve asked myself this specific question a thousand times. Usually for something small, like where do I go after dinner, what do I do now that I’m done with my work.
But sometimes this question has bigger meaning to me. For example, when I was 12, I moved away from my home in Illinois, to here in Minnesota.
Away from most of my family, and all of my friends. Once I was in my new house, and my almost empty room, I thought to myself, through my sadness, worry and exhaustion:
“Where do I go from here?’ That never-ending question of what’s next is what drives me through my days and gives motivation for what’s to come.
Another situation of famous “what’s next?” would be the Battle of Yorktown, 1781. As the British raised their white flag, and began marching away, leaving their weapons behind, our founding fathers thought to themselves, “Where do we go from here?” This question would haunt them throughout the rest of their lives, and not just their lives, but the country’s life.
I feel that this question is more important today. America has been racked with change in the last 2 years.
Whether it be the change that comes with COVID or the fight against racial injustice, America stands different than it did three years ago, and, in my mind, it stands divided.
I’ve watched the country’s trials in the last three years through the eyes of an apolitical high schooler. Someone who has little to no opinion on how things are, or should be, run. But I have noticed this, people are divided, and when they are divided, chaos and pain ensue.
It’s happened again, and again, and it happened since before our country was even established. I think this is the root of our problems.
A house divided against itself cannot stand. These words have a lot stronger meaning to me now. The more I think of our past circumstances, like the event in which these words were spoken, the more I think of today.
Our country is more divided now than it has been in a long time, everything is political. I just think it’s wrong.
This takes me back to the question, where do we go from here? Me personally, I think I have a pretty good idea. We need to work together.
Not apart, not in our different little political groups, but as one country. We can have different opinions, there will never be a
country where everyone shares the same opinion, but those views shouldn’t prevent us from working together.
Our country is at a low, that’s undeniable. And, to me, it just doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
Think back to the Reconstruction Period, our country was broken, we needed to improve as a nation, we needed to repair after the events of the Civil War left us divided and broken.
It took a lot of time, and I still don’t think our country is the same. This isn’t all because of the damage done, but more the lack of cooperation to fix it. If nobody TRIES to work together, nobody will.
Now, I’m not saying where we are about to go into full on war, but I’d say we’re pretty close. I see it everywhere, from the political signs in neighboring lawns, to bumper stickers with foul language, to the different logos on buttons, flags, and shirts.
Everybody feels their opinion is the right one, the only one that matters, and they despise other viewpoints.
I feel like a broken record here, but I’m going to say it again, this shouldn’t happen. In order for us to go ANYWHERE well, we have to work as one country.
Not two, not three, not four, ONE. That’s where we go from here, to a more united country, then from there our recovery is not only possible, but probable, almost definite.
So, I’m going to think back to that period of Reconstruction, where it seemed like we couldn’t possibly get along. If we look back at that, we see that division only leads to irreversible damage on our country.
So, in conclusion, before we can go anywhere, we have to come together. That’s the only way we even get on the path to better things.
We can’t look at each other as an enemy, but as a Molly Robbins friend. Quoting the late Stan Lee, “America is made of different races and different religions, but we’re all co-travelers on the spaceship Earth and must respect and help each other along the way.”
So, next time you think there is no hope for America, I want you to think about and remember that there is. If we can work together, there is more than hope for America’s future, there is a definite positive outcome.
Put your hope in the people around you, push aside your differences to get to know them and move forward with them. You’ll see how much of a difference it can make, and imagine a whole country doing the same, moving forward not as individuals, but as America.