My Letter to America

 

My name is Christopher Gay and I am an American. This is my home and I am ashamed of what’s going on in my home. I was born and lived in Brooklyn, NY and later lived in South Carolina and now Los Angeles.

 

I don’t watch much TV as all that is being promoted is hate, tragedies, disasters, prejudice and divisiveness. I don’t listen to the radio much as now all I hear is mind numbing cloned music with the most simplistic messages. I don’t read many of the generic magazines as 90% promotes self-hate and material things are the only way to true happiness.

 

How did we get here America? How do we stop where we are headed, which is self-destruction? We have set off a bomb and the clock is counting down.

We no longer value lives, we’ve lost our morals, we have lost our conscience, We have lost accountability, we have become greedy and self-absorbed and most disheartening is we have forgotten how to love.

 

We have begun to kill each other without hesitation so much that the flowers no longer smell the way they used to for our grounds are soaked with blood. We have protected the corrupt and victimized the defenseless.

 

The air is not as sweet as we have abused our resources for temporary gains that leaves behind a shadow of irreversible damage. The water is stale and murky as we have not been responsible with what we put in it; a resource none of us can live without. The land has become diseased because we were careless with feeding it chemicals and human blood. We abuse the planet we inhabit and we don’t have a backup.

 

The disinfranchised have become invisible. Our homeless fight every day for resources that many sit in abundance of. They beg for food when many throw away more than they eat. They sleep on the cold ground when many have more homes than they can stay in. They petition for money when so many have more than they need to survive and could ever spend. When did we become hoarders? When did it become ok to have more than enough, while so many have less than survival requires.

 

The disabled have become a nuisance and forgotten. They have become too time consuming and are disposed of as second hand thoughts.

 

The minorities have become dispensable. We have really gone astray from living harmoniously. We have made races and groups fear and hate each other. Distrust and despise one another.

 

We steal from the poor and make the wealthy wealthier. We promote the need for luxury and we fail to provide many with the bare necessity.

 

We have waged war on those who come to our home in search of a better way of life. If the truth be told we are all descendants of immigrants. We have killed those who had possession of the land, we have stolen families to cultivate the land and now we take advantage of those who come to our home, take their resources and then threaten them to leave.

 

We walk into countries not of our own, take our shoes off and threaten the homeowners to give up their possessions or lose their lives and we justify our actions by saying they need us as they cannot take care of each other. Hypocrisy! We cannot even take care of our own.

 

We have provided sufficient education to the affluent and left the poverty stricken with insufficient education. We tell our kids to get a good education, go to college and get a good job. Instead we have cut back on education, laid people off to increase profit margins and invested in prisons.  The poorly educated end up working jobs that provide insufficient wages to survive, they end up in prison and owners of privatized prisons become wealthy.

 

We have turned our brothers and sisters against one another. We feed them lies and fabrications via the news. We give a false sense of reality that only plays into people fears and self defense mechanisms.

 

We promote ignorance on the radio. What happened to the music that made you want to be better? Or music that made love for humanity grow stronger? Or music that caused an emotional reaction other than anger, which is the cheapest emotion of them all as it fades and immobilizes rational thinking.

 

No longer do kids dream of becoming doctors, or lawyers or policemen. Doctors have abused their positions and have used human lives as guinea pigs. They have ignored their Hippocratic Oath and lined their pockets with kickbacks for experimental drugs. Lawyers have lost their conscience. They have provided justice to those who can afford it. They have given freedom to those who didn’t deserve it and pursued captivity to those who didn’t deserve it. Policemen have forgotten the charge to protect and serve and instead they intimidate and bully.

 

We have promoted hatred instead of love. Rewarded ignorance instead of intelligence. Cultivated confusion and distractions instead of peace and prosperity.

We have created a younger generation of entitled youth with poor work ethic.

We have become the Divisive states of America. I say “we” because this is my home. America is my family and you don’t turn your back on your family although in many scenarios my family has turned its back on me. You cannot control what family you are born into.

 

In a time where so many pessimistic voices are given an attractive platform I choose not to assimilate. Even if my voice is only heard among the few, I hope it reaches the masses. Hope should never die, love should never fade and peace should never be a negotiation.

 

Things will never change until WE as individuals change. You are an individual. Will you change despite it being uncomfortable? Because it starts with you. Collectively we change the world or destroy it. When you look in the mirror you will know what side you were on and I hope you can live with it!