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I was sitting outside the other morning. It was the Solstice, that day when dark lingers near the edge of daylight just a touch longer. I watched the light as it nudged up against the darkness, urging it to move over and make room for the day. A bank of low lying clouds clung just above the horizon off to the east, and were illuminated with the most brilliant pink, a color that even a painter would lust for, all of it giving promise of a glorious morning. As the daylight spread through the trees, their bare branches naked in the cold morning light, the clouds softened to a delicate peach with a hint of gold glistening on their edges. Promise – that is what I felt, promise for a more peaceful country and world, and gratitude for all we have.

I thought of the earth and the sky that morning, and of our cosmic energy, that of the sun and the rain that nourish us, how just gazing into the heavens at night with the light of the moon bathing our skin and the stars sprinkling their magic across the sky, how it brings us to a deeper understanding of ourselves. I say ‘us’ meaning all on this planet, humans and animals, plants and trees, waterways and air. We all are one on this earth. Mother Earth, with all her gifts, doesn’t see color, nor hatred, nor ‘other.’

So, why do we? This seems to be a question I’ve pondered of late. Back in 1954, long before most of you were born, when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade, President Eisenhower convinced Congress to change our Pledge of Allegiance to include ‘under God.’ We all stammered and stuttered until we had it memorized again, to include God in this contract we were making with our country. So now, and ever since 1954, we have called ourselves one nation ‘under God,’ indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I see some issues with this phrase, and I wonder if we just say it, so we can mechanically move forward, pretending to be what we aren’t.

First of all, Congress passed this change in our law, acknowledging God. They didn’t specify any one God or the other, just God, assuming there to be one God. And we, as young impressionable children, embraced the concept, and as we grew into adulthood, we each searched for and found our own paths to God, some within ourselves, others outside themselves, but we never doubted that each path would unlock that door to this mystery. Embracing our own paths, we still recognize others’ paths. We have a country filled with churches of all sorts, and others who have chosen more non-traditional ways to worship. But if we have truly embraced our diversity, where did this hatred or maybe we should call it “fear of others and/or their beliefs” become so apparent? Is this the nation we proclaim to be?

Our country used to be so large, and isolated from the other parts of the world, but now it is so small and just a part of our world. When we should be reaching out to each other, holding hands and linking ourselves to Bali, Jakarta, London, Croatia, Leningrad, Berlin, Mexico City, Cairo, Riyadh, and every other place on this planet, why have we instead clung to “fear of others” and let it wreck such havoc in our world?

How can we possibly embrace the world, but not embrace their people and their differences? But then again, we haven’t even embraced many of our own people, with our differences, whether it be the path we’ve chosen to God, or our color. The wedge of fear has been hammered down between us.

Our forefathers wanted ‘one nation, indivisible,’ and then our more recent forefathers wanted “one nation under God, indivisible….” – what happened? How did we get so divided? I think back to the Native Americans who seem to be first to be labeled as ‘other.’ What were we thinking when we put these people, our brothers and sisters, onto reservations? Had we incorporated them into our society, we would all be one now. Sure it would have been hard, but nothing worthwhile is easy, but it would have been done. They consider themselves ‘other’ now because we made them that way. Then came the Chinese and the Irish, but although we treated them terrible, we finally embraced them into our society. Look what we did to the Japanese before welcoming them as a part of us, and the African Americans – we kept them from our schools, our lunch counters and tried to keep them at the back of the bus, and then 50 years ago, we said this wasn’t right. But our past is now front and center again. And this wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t speak to our treatment of our Hispanic neighbors. The way we treat our Hispanic immigrants is disgraceful. Compassion has flown out the window. What is all this ‘other’ stuff? What are we afraid of? Could it be that we still look at every nationality other than white as “others?” Aren’t we all Americans? The truth is we who are white are a blend of others, and no different than any of the others.

A few years ago, while managing a guest ranch in the Chiricahuas, I had a large family group from Connecticut in for Easter. I had had all their children out early to gather eggs for breakfast, and when they saw all the different colored eggs the hens had laid, some pale blue, some pale yellows, and greens, and light pinks, they all started arguing over which color they wanted. So I sat them all around the center island in the kitchen and put a large bowl out on the counter, and as I started to break the eggs and drop them into the bowl, their little mouths just dropped. I explained that although all the shells were different colors, the eggs themselves were all the same. I took it a step further, explaining that this was just like people, we all have different skin tones, but inside we are all the same. Children are not born with these prejudices, they are learned.

Right now our country seems in turmoil, injustices raining down, some true, some not, but because it has been the status quo for so long, the ‘others’ aren’t believing even on the rare occasions when the circumstances are legitimate, if we can ever call shooting another legitimate. We have started a conversation now. Conversation is good, we need to open our hearts to discover we are all brothers and sisters, and if our brothers are having issues, they are our issues, and we all need to join in to make this our ‘one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.’ After all, we are Americans, first and foremost.

2015 is going to be a stellar year. Yes, the stock market will keep climbing, and President Obama, who no longer feels the need to placate our negative Congress, has great things planned for our nation. We are moving forward, and with each step we take, as painful as it may seem for some, will be a step towards a more promising future for America, and this world. It is my hope for the New Year that we all break free of our chains, accept our differences and know that these differences are what make America so great. That the word ‘other’ falls from our conversation and our hearts, as we embrace our diversity. That we join together as one, not Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, or any other, but American and become a society that holds such high moral standards, treating all people with compassion and equality, that the rest of the world will strive for the same standards. If not us, then who?

May your New Year be filled with peace, happiness and prosperity, and most of all, with promise of embracing each other and working towards a common good for all! That is my wish for our country, this is my wish for you. Happy New Year!