On Wednesday, I experienced yet another reminder that the America we see playing out on the airwaves and interwebs is not the real America. Despite how politicians, news personalities, and online influencers portray the country, the facts on the ground seem to suggest something far different.

My significant other and I have been visiting a small town in Union Parish, located in northern Louisiana. It is a very rural area and about as beautiful as beautiful can get.

The weather here has been wild, to say the least, just as it is in other parts of the country. While it is not as chilly as other areas, we have had snow this week, which has made the roads more than a little treacherous.

We were driving home after night fell at a pace that would have elicited a middle finger from an old lady if there weren’t sheets of snow and ice on the road. During the trip, which had my heart beating faster than the firing of an automatic machine gun, we saw a car that had slid off the road deep into a ditch, a situation that I desperately wished to avoid, given that I’m a city boy.

The truck ahead of us pulled off to the side of the road, as did we, to see if we could help the men trapped in the ditch. The young man in the truck walked over to inspect the situation, and I grabbed my flashlight to make sure people could see. Just before this, another truck pulled over, and the driver walked over to offer assistance as well.

While they were discussing whether the rope they had would be enough to pull the car out of the ditch, yet another man drove up in a truck to help. Fortunately, between the three of them, they were able to jury rig multiple ropes to pull the car.

Since I know nothing about pulling a car out of a ditch, I stood on the side of the road flashing my light to make sure other drivers knew that there were men at work and also to make myself feel useful. Hey, I told you I’m a city boy, right?

Fortunately, they were able to pull the car out of the ditch, and the driver and passenger were immensely grateful.

By the way, of the three truck drivers, two were white, and one was black. One of them was an older gentleman, while the other two were younger. The people stuck in the ditch were Hispanic, one of whom spoke little English.

Yet, none of this mattered.

These people saw someone in need and pulled over to help. The trapped men did not have to call for a tow truck, which would have been quite expensive. They did not even have to call government agencies to offer assistance. A bunch of good Samaritans took it upon themselves to assist someone who had gotten into a tricky situation.

But the opinion molders in our society would have us believe that Americans are permanently at each other’s throats. They paint the picture of a nation embroiled in racial strife, with tensions growing more intense every day.

But on the ground, most of us do not see this. Even in the South, which some claim is a horrific racist hellscape, people can come together to help someone without even a thought about ethnicity or nationality.

This happens every single day. In fact, I’d imagine it’s happened quite a bit with the weather pounding various areas of the country.

Even in everyday life, people of all walks of life and backgrounds are getting along just fine. It lends credence to the notion that Twitter is not real life.

I’m not taking a Pollyanish view of our country’s current state – of course, there are problems. I have no blinders on, especially since I live and breathe politics every day of the week. The populace is pretty divided.

But what if it is not as volcanic a situation as we are being told? Maybe we are being sold a bill of goods intended to push us closer to what the opinion molders are portraying. Perhaps the world they paint is the one they seek to create by constantly fomenting fear, anger, and hatred.

Nevertheless, I would submit to you, dear reader, that what I experienced on Wednesday evening is who we really are as a people. When I see individuals coming together to solve a problem, I see America as it truly is: A nation of decent people willing to lend a hand when their neighbor is in need.