Line of

It’s known as a line of demarcation and applicable, in my belief, to all of us.

Of course, I had one, and it is chiseled in my memory.

Can you remember yours?

Often, the memories are too painful to allow back into consciousness. However, when being honest, we can each admit that a certain moment, a precise time, is what changed our life.

Even more accurately, when the person we once were departed forevermore.

I encountered my own line of demarcation the year I was thirteen, and possibly it was a punishment for eavesdropping.

My Mother always warned me that you never heard anything good when you listened to another’s conversation.

Because a major part of my education growing up came from sitting quietly unobserved and just listening, I chose not to heed her advice.

My transfiguration occurred on a memorable night when I overheard a loved one’s opinion of me. The prediction for my future was not glowing, nor did it present any optimism for happiness or success..

Instinctively I drew back from the overheard conversation, hid under my pillow and cried. However, the tears I shed were not soothing, but bitter and angry. I determined I would not allow the bleak prophesy of failure I had overheard come true.

That moment marked of a line of demarcation in my life. It was then I radically changed not only in personality but determination.

Now I wonder if our country is abruptly approaching a line of demarcation that will change our land forever.

Will loud voices and volatile outbursts silence those who disagree?

Will citizens retreat from city streets and abandon familiar activities due to lack of organized protection?

Will discipline, both professionally and personally, become a mere memory?

Will a radical line of demarcation cause a virtual division not unlike the Civil War of yore?

Will America emerge with bitter tears, similar to mine, or with a soft sorrow at the loss of yesterday?