Identity has become increasingly fragmented, and I yearning for unity, for something real beneath the symbols, hashtags, and colors. Flags and identity symbols can serve as powerful tools for recognition and solidarity. For many, especially in marginalized groups, having a visible symbol is life-affirming. It says âI exist, and I belong.â But that same symbol can, paradoxically, become a wall. Over time, what started as a shield can turn into a boundary, one that says whoâs in and whoâs not. Our identities can become rigid molds instead of open journeys. Thatâs a hard truth, especially when those molds start to feel like obligations, when we stop asking who we are becoming and start performing who we think weâre supposed to be. Itâs exhausting, and it's limiting. Recognize that beneath the truck decals, the flags, the pins, and the pronouns is something shared: a human spirit trying to be seen, loved, and free in a world rigged to divide us. Yes, weâre being pitted against one another by the media, by politicians, by elite interests who gain from our fighting. They feed off our tribalism while staying above it. Meanwhile, weâre online, at work, on the streets, fighting about who belongs under which acronym, which color stripe, which side of a line. So whatâs the path forward? Maybe itâs not about rejecting identity entirely but about refusing to let it be our prison. About allowing complexity, contradiction, and change. About meeting each other not just as identities, but as whole people.