UNITED STATES—If you think one political party is better than the other you would be wrong. I hate the fact that our country is so divided on a political front. If you’re a Democrat you can’t be friends with a Republican, if you’re a Republican you can’t be friends with a Democrat, we can’t have a civil argument about issues without vitriol or hate towards another. Where, oh, where is our country headed? What can we do to get some sense of normalcy back in this country?

For starters, let’s stop with the hate. There is an immense out of hate out there for others and some people are taking it to a new level. The violence, the spread of just apprehensible behavior via social media, this goes for BOTH Democrats and Republicans because both parties are doing it. The media circuit is beyond annoying where you having politicians getting on the major news networks pointing fingers and dotting what the other hasn’t done and should do, the list goes on. How about you all just do your damn job!

So the question we NEED to pose is how do we fix it? How can we be better to our neighbor, our friend, our co-worker, hell a complete stranger? I will tell you LISTEN! You don’t have to like what someone else is necessarily saying, but if they’re being civil and laying out their perspective, then take that in. It would be different if a person was being over-the-top and just lacing the conversation with vicious barbs.

Once your perspective has been issued, allow the other person to explain how they feel, think or see a particular issue. You might come to some common ground and even if you don’t, agree to disagree, but do not be an a**hole about it. If we don’t like what we hear too many of us take offense to things. This is also applies to how we consume news. If you are watching only FOX News and refuses to consider other outlets like MSNBC or CNN you might be missing another perspective. The same applies for those watching only CNN and not FOX News. They all have angles people, even if you want to believe they don’t. Advertisers make sure of that.

News is a diverse world you have to consider all the outlets and see what is being reported and what is NOT being reported. Sometimes things go over looked because a network refuses to address or discuss and issue that might reflect bad on their audience or viewers. Um, news is NOT supposed to do that. News is expected to report the good, the bad and the ugly no matter what. True integrity in journalism and accurate news reporting shows no bias, you report it all and you let the public decide how they feel on the news you report based on the facts that are reported people.

There is just too much hate when it comes to political affiliation in our country right now. I mean it is so bad you have people who are NOT even willing to disclose their political affiliation out of fear of the backlash they might receive. Harmony needs to be our goal; we all want the same thing in this country, to provide for our families, to find love and to live a decent life. Shouldn’t those three things bond us more than any other squabbles we might have, least of all what political party we are affiliated with? Ask yourself that question and think about it before you answer.