I don’t know about everyone else, but I have felt my anxiety rising this week. Whether you are happy or not about the coming change of government and administration of our country, we could all agree that there is still a certain experience of division that lies ahead.

Division of beliefs and opinions isn’t all bad, and in fact, are features of healthy democracies. What matters more is our ability to still have dialogue and recognize each other’s humanity and common interests.

I see our country, even the world, in a time of transition. New eras and themes of the times are natural parts of the human story. I think we can all relate to a sense of nostalgia, or longing towards something of our culture that unites us and makes us feel peaceful.

These days, the overwhelming and ever-growing access to information, virtual connection and even buying power of our money are some things that lead us to feel disconnected from each other and the forces changing the world. We don’t want to shop for government policies and experience our lives as consumers; rather, we want to be a part of building and shaping it. I think what we really crave is connection and participation, and that should start in our immediate communities.

I have felt a certain doom and gloom this past year while hearing news of a whole people, numbered in the millions, being forcibly displaced, starved and families being incinerated by bombs, while also witnessing people’s social media accounts online that look like scenes from Holocaust movies that I grew up with.

Somehow, even while experiencing the beauty and joy of my first young child, I felt even more sad and discouraged about the political conflicts, wars, division, death and destruction that I am indirectly involved in through my tax money and government. I’m tired of feeling the disempowerment of my vote, of the lack of ability to make a difference, and many times, to even speak up — as so many things that people used to discuss around the dinner table are now taboo and so triggering that it seems we have all agreed to some unspoken rule to just avoid the subjects.

However, since I recently got involved in an interest group, an association to be a part of, I have been feeling really encouraged and hopeful. I was already impressed by the way this community had welcomed and supported me since I moved here 5 years ago, and now I am wondering why I didn’t get involved in local groups sooner.

All this is to say, I hope we can continue to find unity in the face of division and a changing world. I invite you all to join me at the Vigil for Peace this Sunday in Ward Plumadore Park from 3 to 5 p.m., because peace is not political, it is in everyone’s interest.

In the spirit of a great leader of peace who did not let the real issues get politicized and keep him silent, Martin Luther King Jr., let us stand together publicly on a Sunday afternoon, because “Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”

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Amanda Craver lives in Bloomingdale. She recently created the North Country chapter of World BEYOND War. A list of sources accompanies this commentary online.

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Sources

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https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/11/14/hopeless-starving-and-besieged/israels-forced-displacement-palestinians-gaza

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/north-gaza-israels-generals-plan-genocidal-perversion-international-law

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-pathways-of-experience/202109/nostalgia-what-is-it-we-are-looking-for

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