The Great Divide

How can we get from division to divine?

Photo of the valley beneath Hurricane Gulch Bridge in Alaska

The Great Divide
by Shawn Patrick Rivera

Many stories 
Written and lived 
Day by day 
In parallel and overlapping 
In mysterious ways 
Influenced by forces 
Seen and unseen 
Creating disconnection 
Distraction 
And division 
Leading to a great divide 

We have lost our way 
The common thread 
And a common bond 
Instead we have come to fear 
That our fellow humans 
Are the enemy 
And not the systems and the people 
That sow fear and mistrust 
Through propaganda and lies 
Poison and vitriol 
Blinded by power and greed 

No one is coming to save us 
We are all that we’ve got 
Now we must rise up 
And come together 
At this great divide 
To make a choice 
Turn the page 
Chart a new path 
And write the first chapter 
With US at the center 
Of the next great story 

The revolution must not end 
In disaster or despair 
Instead it is an opportunity 
To imagine a new world 
And build a better way 
To dismantle what no longer serves us 
And what never has or ever will 
To reconcile what separates us 
And find common ground 
To leave the great divide 
And lay our armor down

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