America matters… I think. My wife and I are reading the book 1776 by David McCullough and remembering our noble beginnings. Noble? Would anyone use that word in reference to our current President, who appears to be an embarrassment in every way? The United States used to be a leader of the world and now is seen as barely able to keep up with leaders of small and insignificant nations.

As we try to make sense of our world locally, we see a parade of local citizens in the newspaper because of their production of meth. We hear the overall statistics that compare our annual deaths from opioids with the Vietnam War and see that we’re killing more people through pharmaceutical profiteering then we did by trying to stop communism!

North Carolina? Our legislature got caught this week by federal authorities who noticed that the drawing of our election boundaries was designed to discriminate against minorities with partisan flair. Another embarrassment. Ugh!

So, what do we do? I think of my wife who spent the afternoon at Thermal Belt Outreach, serving the poor. I think of my time I spent this afternoon with a father agonizing over his son who has succumbed to drug addiction and just barely escaped death.

It seems like we have arrived up on a train wreck. In doing so, it seems like all we can do is what we can do, with each individual doing our best to reach out to those around us who are hurting and lifting them up, bandaging their wounds, and trying to help give them a better day.

What matters?  You and we matter; Black, White, Republican, Democrat, addicted or healthy… the differences don’t matter. What matters is that we look at one another and ask, “Are You Ok?” If not, we reach out a hand…

Virgil Stucker, Tryon, N.C.