With each passing day we are constantly bombarded with news reports about how polarized America has become and how divided our nation is by political strife and violent squabbles.

It’s a never-ending 24-hour news cycle of death, destruction, mayhem and leaves little room for much else to talk about. There are arguments endlessly on social media about immigration, gun control, race and religion. People are consumed with distrust, wary of their neighbors and skeptical about the water they drink, the food they consume, and the air that they breathe.

Americans have taken to avoiding public events, fearful of senseless random attacks and are told to remain vigilant about personal security in the workplace, while attending church or even at a movie theater.

Yet despite all of this adjustment to life as we now know it, occasionally a messenger arises to remind us that we have more in common than what keeps us apart as Americans.

Yesterday I learned about Mayor Brent Taylor of North Ogden, Utah, who was deployed to Afghanistan while serving our country as a member of the U.S. Army National Guard. A military intelligence officer with Joint Force Headquarters, Taylor, 39, had previously served two tours in Iraq and was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was married and the father of seven children ranging in age from 11 months to 13 years old.

Taylor, who was planning on returning home and resuming his job as North Ogden mayor in January, was shot and killed last weekend by an Afghan commando he was training.

But before his death, Taylor’s final Facebook post is a message that should be taken to heart for all Americans, Republicans or Democrats, young or old, men or women.

“It was beautiful to see over four million Afghan men and women brave threats and deadly attacks to vote in Afghanistan’s first parliamentary elections in eight years. The strong turnout, despite the attacks and challenges, was a success for the long-suffering people of Afghanistan and for the cause of human freedom,” Taylor wrote.

“As the USA gets ready to vote in our own election next week, I hope everyone back home exercises their precious right to vote,” Taylor wrote. “And that whether the Republicans or the Democrats win, that we all remember that we have far more as Americans that unites us than divides us. United we stand, divided we fall. God Bless America.”

Those words struck me like a bolt of lightning and are especially poignant as we try to make sense of yesterday’s election results from one end of the nation to the other.

As someone who has worn the uniform of the United States of America overseas, I never perceived my job to be one of serving conservatives or liberals, blacks or whites, gays or straights. My uniform contained my name, rank and branch of military service. And like everyone who served before me and after me, we all shared something in common. All of our uniforms simply contained the phrase “United States of America.”

I was proud to serve on behalf of my country and after traveling and observing conditions in other countries, I remain convinced our freedom is worth the sacrifices military members make every single day around the globe for all of us here at home in the USA.

Despite all the mass shootings, mistrust of others, hatred, bigotry, greed and the dark days we are living under, Brent Taylor had it right. We do have far more that unites us than separates us.

You can see it by attending a wedding celebration, seeing the joy of a family welcoming a new baby to the household, at a Fourth of July cookout with friends, or opening presents with loved ones on Christmas morning.

We are all moved and affected by the human experience and sadly, like it or not, we are all shaken to the core by tragic events like those that unfolded on 9-11 or at Parkland High School, Sandy Hook Elementary and the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas.

The shared American experience is about more than politics, lawsuits and disagreements. It’s really about those things and memories that link us together like music, friendship, family and the common goal of seeing our country succeed on so many levels.

Brent Taylor and countless other military members gave their lives to preserve our freedom and it’s our duty to remember they all died while wearing the uniform of the “United States of America.”

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 or by email at editor@journaltribune.com.