I am confused, conflicted and compelled to write about a subject that takes severe inner coaxing to type the words. I tried to talk myself into writing about a chipmunk I love, but no, I prayed about it and this is what I have pushed myself to write:

There is a rogue leader that wants to annihilate us. He is crazy and unpredictable. Kim Jong Un would prefer a world without America or its people. He doesn’t care if Americans are black, white or purple.  He just wants us gone.

Terrorist are cutting off the heads of people of every race and religion. They kill Christians, Jews, families and innocents. The only color they see is the blood red from hate.

Hurricane Harvey ransacked Texas. Hell rained down on these Texans and ran them out of their homes. Children and elderly died. America came together to pray and help all. As people were pulled from flood waters, the hands that pulled each other to safety had no color.

Hurricane Irma ransacked the Caribbean Islands, Florida, and destroyed over 90 percent of the island of Barbuda. Darkness fell upon city after city, town after town, village after village.  It will take years for these folks to recover, if they ever do.  When they asked God to save them, their voices were the same.  Their prayers had no color.

Hurricanes Irma and Harvey could cost the U.S. economy $290 billion. The dollars that will be needed will come from each of us regardless of our color. Dollar bills only come in green.

Maria decimated Puerto Rico. They are without power, gas or water.  They don’t care who helps them. They need assistance from anyone that will lend a hand. Their need has no color.

Huge problems engulf the world right now.  People living in a country filled with the darkness of evil in Kim Jong Un. People living in darkness because of the power of Mother Nature.

For the rest of us that are called Americans we wake up today with light amid the darkness, and we are concerned about a flag, football players and a tweeting President.

If our flag had a voice, I am sure it would be yelling at all of us. I do mean all of us that call ourselves citizens of this country.

Yes, there is still racism in America. Yes, there is still sexism, hatred, greed and hypocrisy that run amok through our streets.  We can protest, we can jump up and down, but our flag and our national anthem are the symbols of our country’s unity.

We have got to stand together as a nation. If we don’t, Kim Jong Un, a Harvey, Maria or Irma will have no need to destroy us because we will do it to ourselves.

I understand we need to make a statement when we feel we are disparaged as human beings, but when our country desperately needs less division, why are we creating more?

What are we doing? I hate racism with every fiber of my being. Always have. I have friends that I love that are black, but I don’t see their color. I pray they don’t see color in me. God doesn’t see color at all.

Racism must stop. We must try to heal our division not with more division, but with lending a hand to the needs of all our people.

On Sunday, what if the NFL had kneeled for prayer to unify our country? What if the NFL had locked their strong arms together to strengthen their resolve to be an example to our children? What if the NFL gathered in a huddle and came up with an idea to spread their riches to police departments that need better training and officers that need more pay? What if the NFL had taken all its power and turned on the lights in Puerto Rico?

What if the president of our country had tweeted or suggested any of that?

What if each of us start thinking before we speak, so that we can preserve the freedom of speech?

What would have been gained by doing any of the above would be respect for each other, and a resurgence of the common good?

Today the front page is full of stories about football, a downtrodden flag and a tweeting president.  As we read the pages, there will be another storm brewing, another missile fired by a crazy dictator and a terrorist building a bomb all aimed at the United States.

From the president, to Congress, to the NFL and to every citizen of this country, we better bind our act together so that we will still have the freedom to raise our flag anywhere we choose, even on a football field.

God help us all to become so colorblind that the only colors we see are red, white and blue.

Lynn Walker Gendusa is a former resident and writer who currently resides in Roswell. She can be reached at lwgendusa@bellsouth.net