I recently went to see my dermatologist where it was noted that I had a little spot on my nose that deserved some investigation.   This lead to some needle sticks, numbing medicine and some digging.  This was just the biopsy phase.  They placed a Band-Aid over the wound, and a couple of weeks later told me the biopsy was positive.  I’d have to have Mohs Surgery.   Not to be confused with jazz pianist Mose Allison.

Having heard these words before I just hated the idea.  But, over the years, enduring this uncomfortable process has allowed me to lose a couple of laugh lines here and some crow’s-feet there.  All in all, I’m looking younger every year.

So, with no fear, but some apprehension, I went back for the surgery.   I say apprehensive, because those of you that know me, understand that my nose is what creates the bulk of my awesome beauty.  But beauty aside, the surgery begins.  More needle sticks, more slicing, a few stitches and then bandages.  Considering the process in total, it’s the bandages I hate the most.  Just try placing and removing a really sticky bandage on your nose every day twice a day for more than a week.  It gets old.

Each changing of the bandage feels like it’s pulling the skin right off your nose.   I don’t know if removing the band-aid would come under the heading of exfoliation, but I guarantee exfoliation is child’s play by comparison.  The high side however, is that every clogged pore under that strip of glue-laden latex, is ultimately unclogged.  By the end of the 6th or 7th day, the acreage under the band-aid never looked as good.  But, Band-Aid removed, there it is, the wound.  Yuck, it’s messy.  You can’t wait to treat it and then cover it back up.  Altogether, it’s not much different than dealing with today’s political landscape; horrible to deal with and ugly, but necessary to promote healing.

And so it is with our Republic and the Democratic process we live by.  I’ve been saying it for a long time, our two party, two house system of government is messy and it always has been.  It was designed this way, but it creates some terribly deep wounds.

Often when it gets messy and painful, those that can’t stand the sight of it, look away.  But, looking away means we miss that America is more good than bad.  It means we overlook that America is always worth saving, and always worth another Band-Aid. We Americans know all too well, we can cover a wound and leave it covered until it smells.  Or, as painful as it may be, we can remove the bandage over and over until it hurts.   And keep removing the Band-Aid so we can observe the healing and adjust the treatment.

Currently, our nation is terribly wounded by its division, and understandably many have lost hope.  I get it.  Exposing the ugliness of building America and what we refer to as the experiment; disenfranchises many.   It causes good men and women to lose hope, never realizing that more times than not; our nation is healed by every-day, ordinary people, with an idea.

I am the great-great-grandson of immigrants who came to American with an idea for a better life, and I’m the son of two wonderful parents from the greatest generation.  These cumulative generations have seen the deepest wounds that American has suffered, our great wars, the depression and hatred of those that are different.  But, they never looked away, never shunned the process of treating the wound, no matter how uncomfortable.

Today, as we all march onward, there will be many differing points of view on how to heal our nation, and isn’t that fantastic.  Somewhere in the messiness of diverse thought, good will rise, and our Republic will heal and become better.

I quote Admiral Halsey who said, “There are no extraordinary men, just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with.”  Like many of the generations before us, we find ourselves in extraordinary times.  The good news is, ordinary people have always risen to diagnose, heal and change the Band-Aid of our nation’s ugly abrasions.

God Bless these United States.