There’s More to Life than all Things Trump, Racism and Hate —The Other Side of America

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It was a mini-blizzard in Lyndhurst, Ohio that December night as I pulled into Corpus Christi Academy. I was there for an elementary school musical concert—my first ever. Students from the 5th and 6th grade were getting ready to put on a musical concert featuring Christmas songs. I usually don’t attend events like this but one of my private martial arts students, David, who is 11 years-old, was playing saxophone. I’ve been meaning on attending one of the many events David participated in but I wasn’t able to make any of the other ones, so tonight, even though the snow covered the ground like ivy on a prison wall, I got there.

David plays basketball, football, baseball, sings in a choir, is mostly an A student and takes private lessons in martial arts with my assistant, Michael Cacolici, and me.

David and his father, Mike

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the auditorium was the amount of adults in attendance. Moms, dads, grandparents, brothers, sisters and friends of families, many more than I had expected. Moreover, I noticed the varied colors in the room. Yes, color. I saw, white, black and brown people.

Then I heard. First I heard the entire group of students play music together. Then solos. Some of the solos stunned me as to how good they were—and in front of all those strangers! Then, I nervously watched as a girl stopped in the middle of her solo and couldn’t seem to start back up. Dead silence. Then, the music teacher, a tall man in his 50’s with a look of calm wisdom about him, quietly and calmly said something to the girl. She started playing again and flawlessly finished her song! I watched the audience give her one of the loudest rounds of applause of the evening.

I continually saw the audience rooting and clapping for everyone even though there was an occasional missed or wrong note. I watched people of different colors and shades be one, rooting for all.

What I didn’t see was racism or hate that I hear about every day in the media.  And I didn’t see the obsession that I incessantly observe on television and social media where people try to find fault with President Trump no matter what he does and the bullying that goes along with that behavior against those who disagree. And I didn’t hear any of Trump’s supporters sticking up for Trumps seemingly continuous foot-in-mouth disease, either.

What I saw that night was a beacon of light that didn’t show itself in glare or brightness. But it showed just as prominently. It showed me another world. A world different from the hate and vitriol going on in America. A world of peace, togetherness, hard work and accomplishment.

I saw hope. I saw future. I saw good people of all colors simply working together at being whole. I saw the future of America.

Steve Kovacs
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Steve Kovacs

About Steve Kovacs

Steve's the bestselling author of 'Protect Your Kids! The Simple Keys to Children's Safety and Survival'. He's written many articles on a wide variety of topics and has three published books. Steve's a three-time survivor of violence in his youth, a former police supervisor and a graduate of The Police Executive Leadership College (PELC) and was also an award winning part-time college Criminal Justice instructor. For several years, Steve did written and radio political and current event commentary and was the former host of the long running 'The Kovacs Perspective' Internet radio and TV talk show. Steve presently owns a small businesses in Ohio--The Mayfield Academy of Self-Defense.

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