Sometimes a word jumps off the page or distracts me like a flashing neon sign—Warfare in this case. For this blog I chose the definition of warfare as bad blood since it runs deep in the traditions and memories of mankind and inborn or not, is repeated and causes great damage.

Scholars have written much about the rationale, distress, consequences and true cost to mankind of warfare. But, has it taught us anything?

The ships of old did not only deliver immigrants to our shores, they delivered centuries of prejudice. Yet America’s industrial growth depended upon them so every American came together to create and hold onto a universal freedom and democracy promised by the image of The Statue of Liberty – Liberty Enlightening the World – a gift from the People of France to the People of the United States, October 1886.

You may think that was then and this is now. But look around at our America today—oh we are so in Warfare: black & white & brown; women’s rights; senate & house, outsourcing & job loss; union & non-union; federal vs. state; religious intolerance; immigration anxiety; courts vs. individuals; education; marriage rights; rich or poor; middle class in jeopardy; rage; hatred; fear; greed… I cannot go on!

We Americans are in a revolution of prejudicial thought and are the only ones who individually and collectively can once again show Liberty Enlightening the World by making the most of OUR hard fought freedoms.