An incredibly wise man once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” That man, of course, was Jesus Christ.
While our community is usually more harmonious than not, with people of all political parties and races and genders working together for the good of Sampson County, an event earlier this week, unfortunately, showed just how divided many of us are.
With our state’s governor, Josh Stein, choosing Sampson as the second stop on his rural listening tour, we (perhaps naïvely) felt a surging pride that North Carolina’s top government official would be among us, talking with local officials about the issues that are most important to rural residents, like us.
And while it was an informative and compelling discussion for those who were able to attend, many of our local leaders apparently felt left out of the discussion. Only two of the five county commissioners were present, for example, and they happened to be the two Democrats, Lethia Lee and Thaddeus Godwin. The governor is, of course, a Democrat, so it’s unfortunate that it might appear to some folks that attendees were invited along party lines.
That’s clearly not the case, however, as N.C. Sen. and Sampson resident Brent Jackson, a Republican, was also on hand to be part of the discussion, as well as Capt. Marcus Smith of the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, who was there representing invitee Sheriff Jimmy Thornton. Thornton just successfully ran for reelection in the primary as a Republican and Smith, too, is a strong member of the local GOP. Duplin County Sheriff Stratton Stokes, another Republican, was part of the event as well.
The event was not open to the public, due to time constraints and security concerns, but it was attended by several invited guests, who were not part of the literal roundtable discussion, as well as a representative from The Sampson Independent.
With representation from both sides of the political spectrum at the table, the conversation was cordial, professional and lacking the vitriol that’s all too often seen these days when Republicans and Democrats are gathered in the same room to talk about pressing issues.
But respect stopped at the gates to social media, where hate and nasty reared their ugly heads. Gone was the respectful dialogue among people who might have differing viewpoints but were willing to hear each other out. Instead, there were insults to Stein, jokes from some saying they were glad to have missed the event, even barbs thrown at Muslims — who had nothing to do with the meeting — because Stein had issued a proclamation earlier this month to recognize the Islamic holiday of Ramadan.
Few feelings of pride that one might have expected showed up in the comments, and almost completely absent was any appreciation that the governor took time out of his schedule to sit down with people in Sampson County for some positive dialogue that wasn’t brought on by a political campaign or a natural disaster.
We realize that, in many cases, social media represents the very worst of humanity, and people who use that platform are far more likely to speak up in opposition of something than in support and appreciation.
But, no matter who you voted for, the governor holds an office worthy of respect. And the fact that he showed up to hear local concerns is worth a little praise and a whole lot of thanks.
It is embarrassing that instead of thanking the governor for not forgetting about rural communities, so many people rushed to call him names and insult him, before even learning anything about what he had to say and what he was here to discuss. It certainly doesn’t represent Sampson County well.
We, however, thank the governor for caring enough about Sampson County to visit and listen, and we thank those who treated Stein with the respect the office commands, even if they don’t agree with his political views. We only wish those who are willing to cross the aisle and work together would be as vocal as the naysayers who see only political party and not the person beneath the title.
In the end, we are all Sampsonians, North Carolinians and Americans. We’re a diverse culture of different races, genders, beliefs and, yes, religions. It’s high time more of us lived like Jesus instead of shunning others in His name.