During this first link up of 2021 I thought I would share just a little bit about the Five Minute Friday community. This is a positive collection of online writers who unite weekly to share creative inspiration. The host of the weekly link-up (Kate) posts a word on the website and then we craft a short piece based on that word.
The next part is really cool and why I keep coming back. After you have authored your post you can share the link to your site and response on the Five Minute Friday website. Each person who joins must visit the person who posted before them and any others that catch their eye. I have been blessed by this community and met many inspirational writers this way over the years.
Now, I’m picking up where 2020 left off and joining my fellow writers on this week’s prompt:
America, it is TIME.
It is time to build bridges over the waters that separate us.
It is time to collect the fragments and bandage the wounds.
It is time to stop piercing with words and weapons.
It is time to return to the purpose for which we were founded.
It is time to unite under our similarities–no more division over our differences.
It is time to unlearn hate and educate ourselves on love.
It is time to heal the land that we are polluting.
It is time to discard the outdated and welcome our country into a new era.
It is time to reclaim our destiny.
It is time to remember that we are the UNITED states of America.
It is time.
*I cannot end this post without a brief monologue about the current state of our nation from a history teacher’s perspective. I will not get into my political views here–those are irrelevant. But in as far as citizenship is concerned we must be better, America. We must embrace the definition of democracy and allow differences to exist in peace.
As a teacher I was a little nervous about discussing the topics of this week’s mob at the nation’s Capitol. But my students far surpassed my expectations. We engaged in a peaceful and insightful conversation about recent events this week. Every single one of my students articulated their feelings and disgust over what occurred on Wednesday. As adults we can take a lesson from teens today. Their level of tolerance and maturity on political issues is commendable. If only my Twitter and Facebook feeds were full of adults expressing themselves in a like manner. I was so proud of the way my students respected one another’s opinions and in a time where my faith in our country could be tanking I look at my high school students and know that they see the problems. There is hope for us yet!
The Ameri Brit Mom
The Ameri Brit Mom 
As I watched in horror and tears, I was grieved by all I was seeing. It is so difficult to understand how we even arrived at this point, but the important thing is to learn from this and begin the process of healing. I am so glad you see hope in the kids in your classrooms.
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I loved this. I’m trying to think what else to say, but really, that just sums it up. I loved this.
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#hopechangeseverything #18
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I hope you’re right, but I fear…
I hear the tolling of the bell,
the sombre peal it doth employ,
and remember, all too well
the glory, long ago ’twas Troy.
Perhaps there was a stolen beauty,
taken ‘cross the wine-dark sea,
to be reclaimed by those whose duty
was their white-hot savagery?
Or was felt in lotus-eating grace,
and then came learning, far too late
that they had sapped their strength to face
the barbarians breaking own the gate?
Rash or indolent, so time flows,
and in Hasarlik’s grass the salt-wind blows.
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I am based in the UK but it was still so heart breaking and shocking to watch. Yours words are beautiful and so true for the moment. God bless fmf #6
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Amen!
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I teach history to high schoolers, so your post really resonates with me. I want to model good citizenship and right character to my students. They are the future of our country, and I STILL believe it is the greatest country in the world.
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