Distance

We're trying to figure it out, this age of AI, high inflation, social fabric torn to shreds, decorum removed, violent school, surveillance state, eroded institutions, a constitution under threat. The other side, they say. It's all the fault of the other side. And no one knows which side that is. It's me, it's you, it's all of us. There's no middle ground. That's what they tell us. Maybe there never was. Maybe we've always been tribal. Maybe we've always been apart. Distant. Suspicious. Maybe it comes down to gender, or color, or height, or language, or belief, or geography. I try to have forgiveness. But am I the only one? To say this is right and that is wrong. To see balance as something stronger than leverage. I have answers but not influence. Someone typed the answer. Another responds with falsehood. Are these facts or feelings? Are we creators of consumers? How do we truly ever know? I'm not a decider. Are you? Or are you a constituent? A mere voter. The electorate. A consumer of information. They say we are taught to believe. That's what the other side says. We are sheep. They are sheep. Maybe we are all sheep? A peaceful herd then, perhaps, grazing a verdant hillside under an afternoon blue sky. It sounds half decent. Maybe you'd like to join? Because we can't fight we need to have another way to show off. The last of the old people.