America, Whatever Happened to Compromise

Against the Grain II

By Vaughn Wilson

I often do not watch violent acts or fights on social media.  I think it is pointless, degrading, and is desensitizing our culture to these heinous acts.  I often scroll right past these unsightly posts on social media and never look back.  Then my wife showed me the Pennsylvania snow conflict and it took every thought to a new level.

Three neighbors, a husband and wife and their neighbor across the street began having a heated exchange of words that started while they were all shoveling snow.  If my account is not exact, please forgive me, but I have absolutely no desire to watch the exchange ever again.

The words became more aggressive as the four or five-minute exchange grew personal and enraged.  The husband and wife at this point were the aggressors, throwing vulgarity-filled insults at the neighbor across the street.  All of this was caught on the couples’ home security camera aimed at the middle of the street.

At some point, everything boiled over. With the couple escalating their insults at the neighbor, he went in his home to retrieve a pistol.  This is the point in which you realize that this had to be more than a conflict about snow, it was pinned up anger deep inside of all three parties involved.

Even with the neighbor approaching the couple in the middle of the street with his handgun, the rage inside would not subside.  They virtually dared the neighbor to shoot them…which he did.  He unloaded on the couple, downing the wife first and then the husband.  Injured and bleeding, the couple continued to throw insults at the neighbor.  This is the point where the growing mentality of finality has crept into the psyche of America.

The neighbor then retreats to his home and returns with an assault rifle and basically executes the couple.  It was a sad and devastating scene.  The neighbor would off camera take his own life before law enforcement arrived.

Our country has in general left the realm of decency.  A place where we can have disagreements without conflict.  We have definitely grown over the past four years to a point of finality, where lines are drawn in the sand and you must choose a side.  Unfortunately, the choice you make determines if you are right or wrong in the eyes of the those involved.

Whatever happened to compromise?  We can’t actually believe that we are always right can we?  The only way our country can begin to heal is through compromise.

The sad part is the biggest promoter of partiality is our national congress and senate.  Less than a month in office, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris already had to cast the deadlock tie vote in the Senate for the Covid-19 Relief Package.  The vote was split right down party lines…not a single vote of compromise.