What a confusing weekend in America. The greatest democracy in the world held its most historical and patriotic event Friday, and those who did not agree with the outcome of the process (a process that I have not agreed with at times, I might add) got ugly. Not only did they riot, destroy, slander and accuse, but they basically spat upon the honor and justice of this nation. They put a black mark on the entire history of America and did so in the name of freedom and protests.

I understand the feeling of believing you were wronged and doing something about it. I do not understand the destruction of your own neighborhoods. The violence that you unleashed on your fellow citizens, upon those who took a sworn oath to protect you and your very freedoms was vile and something I can only compare to third-world countries that have been at war for generations. The words spoken at a microphone by people of influence and supposed honor were words of hatred and tyranny, the very things that they were supposed to be against. True colors were shown and those colors were not red, white and blue.

Many times over the years the vote has been close and the person for whom hundreds of thousands of citizens voted did not win. They did not turn on their nation at that time and they still held their heads high and worked toward a common goal. Civil unrest is OK, civil disobedience is not. At a time when other nations watch us and dream of someday having the freedom to vote like Americans, some showed them something different. They showed their true weakness in all its ugliness. Yes, we are free to march, we are free to speak our mind, we are free to do many things. But when you use that very freedom to disgrace yourself and this great nation, well that is called being a traitor. And that is just what our greatest enemy at this time thrives on.

Terrorism has plagued our world for many years, and recently their leaders have sought out those within our borders who are mentally unstable and looking for something to grasp onto as their own. They are the civilly unrested in our nation, the cracks in our American armor, and they have been used against their own people to dismantle security from within our country. On Friday and Saturday those terrorist leaders saw a new crop of supposed hurting Americans that are ripe for the picking and that small crack became a large opening for them to act upon.

We must … let me repeat … we must as a country, no matter who leads it, be united in our process and have loyalty to God and country first. Yes, there are things to fight for. But to come against the president of the United States and dishonor that office is not the way to proclaim rights or justice. To burn an American flag that so many died to protect is not courage. That is cowardly and an act of terror in itself. To threaten and harass the man voted in to lead us, and his family, is weak and low and an all-around sad event for all of this country, whether you voted for him or not. If we do not stand together and learn to love our neighbor, regardless of creed, color and nationality, we will all fall. If we do not tolerate forgiveness as a nation, we will slip into a darkness and miss the freedom bell as it rings. We must not regress backwards, but forge ahead. We must grab the hand of our enemy and work together. That is how America works, that is how we were founded, and that is how we fix the mess in which we find ourselves.

May God bless our president and the United States of America.