2:00 am November 9, 2016 Outside, feverishly chain smoking and pondering where this is all heading.  Replaying a year in which distractions replaced issues, and trying to grasp a country deeply fractured by sound bites and red baseball caps. No longer an indivisible nation, but a nation of individuals all holding on to their own truths, no questions asked, no answers sought. Debate no longer an exchange of ideas in search of solutions, rather a contact sport with a winner and a loser. Void of the tenets that had united us, we now hold our fellow Americans in utter contempt.  As I sift through these thoughts, I notice a dumpster just down the block with the word LIBERTY boldly painted across it. While the irony is unmistakable, I begin to wonder if we no longer understand the meaning of these words so brilliantly crafted in the creation of our democracy. For years, politicians and businesses have co-opted these words, wrapping themselves in the American flag to market a sense of faith, trust and pride. Have these words become just like an overplayed pop song - a familiar melody that we all hum, yet the lyrics have escaped us?