The nation we consider ourselves closest to, and took our language from, and consider our closest ally in most ways, we have in fact been at war with – twice. To say that we in the United States have a conflicted understanding of where (or what) those parameters might be would be the ultimate understatement. We have laws, rules and expectations, some formal and officially encoded, while others more unofficial, even unspoken (and certainly unwritten) define and frame who “we” are and who those who threaten us might be. In virtually any situation from neighborhood or family conflict to global nuclear conflict, the wisest and most prudent response is to de-escalate.Įscalation, as every pre-school teacher, or mother, knows all too well, will only make the situation worse.Įvery family, every business and certainly every nation functions better, even thrives, the stronger its shared vision and sense of identity.Īs our Founding Fathers put it, “United we stand” followed by “Divided we fall”.Įvery set of us, from family to rock band, will proceed only as far as our unity will take us.
In any area or level of conflict any one of us has (at least) two basic choices we can escalate or de-escalate the situation. It has become a cliché that we in America have never been more divided.įor whatever reason, we in our country have never been more eager to fight about everything from food to music to anything that gets our attention and, thanks to the internet, every one of us seems to declare ourselves instant experts on everything from toxicology to the Constitution.įrom internet trolls, threats of war (or actual war) or labor shortages or extreme weather to ever-escalating economic uncertainty and of course, conflicts about realities and reactions regarding COVID have driven us all into a shared heightened level of arousal, if not anxiety.
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