Paul Sassone

Within a week of each other two events of importance will occur.

On Jan. 16 America honors the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

And on Jan. 20 America inaugurates Donald Trump as president of the United States.

It is difficult to imagine two more different people than Dr. King and Mr. Trump.

For the last year we have been hearing and seeing Trump’s vision of and for America. Dr. King’s vision of and for America has unfortunately receded over time.

As Trump’s election shows, we Americans often define ourselves by what divides us rather than what unites us. There are red-state and blue-state Americans, black-Americans and white-Americans, native-born Americans and immigrant-Americans. There are so many hyphenated and oppositional Americas.

But, Dr. King spent his too-brief life working to create a single, united America.

“All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,” Dr. King said.

He insisted there should only be one America, one that is true to its inclusive ideals for all its people. He reminded us it is up to each of us to help create that one America, to look beyond our own selfish interests and become good neighbors.

“The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human, and therefore brothers,” Dr. King said.

But today, we still need to ponder: Are we brothers and sisters, or are we a jostling conglomeration of competing interests? Are  we e pluribus unum — one people created from many — or is it every man for himself?

We don’t know. America is not finished yet. America is still becoming.

But what America?

Will we move toward Dr. King’s vision of a united America of brothers and sisters?

Or will we begin erecting an America of walls, of exclusion, of fear of others, of smug selfishness.

A new chapter of the journey of America’s becoming starts Jan. 20.

We’ll see where that journey takes us.

–What kind of America is in our future?–