I will not be hopeless. Between the recent violence, political banter, plague and economic turmoil that is ravaging our country, there is a new pandemic facing America. This pandemic is more damaging than violence, more confusing than political propaganda, more contagious than COVID-19 and more binding than poverty. I am not talking about a literal bondage, but a captivity the American people have openly welcomed in to strip us of our freedom.

Our modern-day taskmaster is hate.

I will not be a slave to hate. Hatred seems to take hold of our tongues, control our minds and force us to despise our neighbors. Hate spoils good; I see peaceful protests turn into looting, our protecting officers into the enemy and our past heroes/heroines into villains. Most interestingly, this hatred was not originally ours… but it was sown into us by the media and germinated rapidly as the deluge of lies forced hatred to take root in our hearts to forward a political agenda.

This is not a new strategy for political gain. Germans and Jews lived together peacefully for years. Then one Adolf Hitler manufactured a hatred and used it to forward his political interests causing segregation, misery and unspeakable horrors.

“I simply can’t build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death… I think… peace and tranquillity (sic) will return again.” It was these words penned by Anne Frank, someone young – like many of us – who truly felt the crushing pressure of hatred, misunderstanding and persecution that followed her due to her culture, ethnicity and religion.

Hope. Where can it come from? Our president? Friends? Substances? I suggest we look no further than within ourselves. True healing can come through unity, which starts with forgiveness.

My friends, to forgive someone does not justify their actions, nor lessen their moral responsibility to be better. Forgiveness never has been about the offender. Forgiveness is about yourself. Forgiveness sets us free and then it opens our eyes to see more clearly how to correct the incompleteness in others. Harboring hate to Republicans or Democrats, presidents or law enforcement officers, or any past person does not inflict justice. Instead, it simply enslaves the hater, blurs their vision and creates more inequality and segregation.

Martin Luther King Jr. laid down his life to end inequality. He taught eloquently, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

I implore all of us – no matter our skin color, nationality, sexual orientation or political inclination – to replace hate with love, anger with understanding and to simply forgive. When we look inward and correct ourselves, then we can turn outward and correct the world. Change must start from within.

Are you ready to be free? Then join me in forgiving, to make America whole again.

Ty Turner is a senior in construction engineering.