We cannot deny our division as a community over the last few years. From our religious beliefs to our stances on politics, our friends and families have become so polarized. It feels more like we have turned into a bunch of feral cats fighting over the last can of Friskies than people who actually care about each others well being. What are we supposed to do about it? Act like it’s not happening? Avoid each other and crawl further into our own little rabbit holes of existence where we scroll on our social media feeds, only following people that we share the same opinions with? Won’t this further divide us as a community? Do we even care what goes on outside our front doors? If you are anything like me, you are kind of sick of feeling unsure of how you will be received when you walk into a restaurant or the local Walmart. I honestly can’t say that I ever used to feel that way (maybe a decade ago or so). It kind of slowly happened over time. You can lie to yourself and say that you don’t notice the difference and that everything feels like it always has, but you know that it doesn’t.
I feel like deep down we have lost something fundamental. Before we all had different political parties, religions, or ideologies we were neighbors and families that shared roads, sidewalks, parks, and shopped in the same stores. Hell we even had picnics and Kennywood days together. Now that sort of thing doesn’t seem to happen. I see a lot of political flags and signs etc… but very little neighborly connection. The truth is, while we’ve been busy fighting with each other over talking points crafted by politicians and the media who will never set foot in our towns real problems are growing right under our unwatchful eye. We have a sizable homeless population in Armstrong County. We have public transportation without bus signs at most of the stops, therefore half of our people don’t even realize we have it. Drive through any part of Armstrong County and take a good look and you’ll see what I mean. People struggling to get by, families having trouble putting food on the table, elderly neighbors isolated and forgotten. These aren’t political problems, they are human problems. They don’t care whether the people suffering votes red or blue, prays or not, or believes in different solutions to our nations challenges. These problems can happen to you regardless.
So here is my question to all of us. What if we stopped waiting for permission care about each other? What if we decided that our shared humanity matters more than our political differences? I am not asking anyone to abandon their beliefs or principles. I’m asking us to remember that the people struggling to heat their homes this winter, the veteran sleeping in their car, the family choosing between medicine or groceries, these are our people. They deserve more than charity, they deserve dignity, respect, and neighbors who see them as whole human beings worthy of love and support.
The path forward isn’t complicate even though it isn’t always easy. It starts with simple acts like checking on our elderly neighbors from time to time, volunteering at local foodbanks, supporting local businesses even if they have different political beliefs, and having conversations where we listen more than we speak (which is admittedly very difficult for me). It means showing up at community meetings, not to argue about national politics but to solve local problems together. When we focus on what we can build together rather than what divides us, we remember who we really are. We are not a collection of isolated individuals defending our positions, but a community of people who have always been stronger together than apart.
Unite Armstrong 