Dear America,

When at the end of the day we lay our heads down to rest we must ask ourselves have we done everything we can to insure that those we love are safe! We must look deeply into our collective consciousness and decide if what we have accomplished is worthy of being called Americans. We must put an end to the verbal rhetoric we continue to hear in regard to all the issues that are important to us. It behooves us to step out of the cloud of denial that we continue to allow to fall over us and see that our reality is not what it used to be 50 years ago or even 20 years ago. We have seen the rise of many terrifying things but also many beautiful things. We have risen from devastation from outside to stand in the face of our enemy and say not on our land and not our families. Yet, here we sit at a time when wonder and creativity are growing, when the movement away from the old is creating new and exciting frontiers for us to explore and yet we are stuck!

There many arguments about gun rights in particular, I don’t want to talk about those, there are many arguments against the President of the United States, I don’t want to talk about those. There is a rise in racism across this country, I don’t want to talk about that, there is a rise in division in this country and frankly I don’t want to talk about that. But we must talk about it in order to fix the problem we are having. Instead of finding the rhetoric that comes not only from the Political world but also the private sector we tend to gloss over what we are losing. Whole generation of children growing up in a world where they have to fear going to school or the mall or the movie theater. This is what we have lost and will continue to lose until we unite and take a stand. This is not about Republican or Democrat anymore, this is not about Trump or Hilary anymore, this is not about nationalism vs. patriotism anymore this is about the generation of children and what we want them to know about these moments in history when they grow up.

We must secure our neighborhoods, our schools, our churches, our movie theaters and our shopping malls from the systematic desecration of life. This is not about taking away rights, this is not about making good people give up their guns. This is about protecting what we hold most dear, it is about creating the world we want our children to live in no matter the cost. This is not about assigning blame because no one person except for those who committed these crimes is to blame. Yet it is our children who must fear going to school, it is our churches that now must have security, it is our grocery stores that we must protect. The one statement that I hear continually is “Well criminals do not follow laws” and It frustrates my brain to hear it and quit frankly is irritating to hear it. We all know criminals do not follow the laws the very definition of a criminal is a law breaker, so stop making it an excuse this we already know. Is there a quick fix? Probably not, but if we do not as a nation come together and find the solutions what happened on August 3, 2019 and all the times in the past will continue to be our new normal.

So here is my challenge, To the President of the United States , To every Presidential Candidate, Congress Person, Law Enforcement entity, Come together, Stop Fighting, Stop Blaming, Stop the name calling and do your jobs, find us solutions that are going to keep our children safe, find us solutions that are going to protect us from the dangers of our own countrymen find solutions that are going to bring us back together as a country not keep us divided. We sit here on the brink of a new election cycle and but all we are hearing is rhetoric we are not hearing solutions.

It is not just you that your words affect, each and everyone of you is responsible for the rhetoric you put out. And each and everyone of you were elected or wish to be elected into a position that has power behind it. So my challenge drop the rhetoric and come to us with real solutions that are going to work. But never forget that “We the people” are the ones who put you there. It is time you stop selling us out to lobbyist and big corporations and start looking at America the people, because at the end of the day this country was built on our backs Black, Hispanic, Indian, White, Christian, Catholic, Protestants, Jew, Muslim and Pagan.

When we do not remember all that went before us, when we forget the history that made this work in progress possible, when we forget that our founding fathers believed completely in the documents that we hold so dear and that nothing is impossible we are left doomed to repeat the mistakes of our history. We must as a nation rise as we did on September 11,2001 and stand against the tide of hate, racism and ignorance that some feel they are justified in believing. Only when we recognize the damage it has done can we repair it and only when we recognize its source can we call it out.

For me there is not greater challenge then to create a country where we all feel safe, secure and can prosper. These challenges by the way that our founding fathers fought and died for, these simple laws that they wrote to govern us as they created this experiment called The United States of America. It is time “We The People” are heard, we are not We the Republican people or We the Democrat people, We are not We the White People or We the Black People. We are “We the People” one entity with all our differences, flaws and mistakes, and until we stand once more in the face of the hate, and the lies and the rhetoric coming at us from all sides and demand that it stop it will not stop. “We the people” must choose how we go forward, with unity or shall we continue to be divided? Shall we stand together as our founders wanted or should we just call it a night and say good night Gracie? These are in our control.

To my fellow Americans I say this, I do not care about your political views, I do not care about your religious beliefs, I do not care about your sexual orientation or the color of your skin. I care about your children and mine, I care about the poor and the homeless, I care about the little girl who is afraid to go home, or the little boy who is confused about where his next meal will come from. I care about a world where we can sustain life and create a future that your children and my grandchildren will be able to look back and say they did us right. So America our challenge is very simple unite for a common purpose, demand that rational reasonable change happen and vote to insure that our great experiment of a Country continue to lead not only here at home but across the world.

Blessed Be to us All