As I drove across Nebraska last weekend, I delighted in the green fields with their borders of Black-Eyed Susans, bright yellow with black centers, turned toward the sun. Working windmills litter the prairies, where as a child I competed mightily against my two siblings in the “spot the windmills” game, created by my parents to keep us focused on something other than squabbling with one another on family trips.

Retraining mode kicked in – it is customary to wave at each car headed the opposite direction by raising at least an index finger in greeting – something that isn’t rote to me anymore, a practice that lets others know they’re not alone in this remote stretch of land leading to the Sand Hills.

Mother Teresa said, “We’ve forgotten we belong to each other.” Sometimes that’s how it feels in America today, but not during this drive where acknowledging that you’re seen, you’re not alone, is commonplace.

Yet, folks I’ve talked with out in the heartland are also deeply influenced by what I’ve come to think of as our national Great Divide. From family dinner tables to local bars, statehouses to the halls of Congress, it seems we don’t agree on much anymore. Perhaps we’ve forgotten that we belong to each other here in this grand experiment of democracy, of United States.

Children in the heartland returned to school over the last couple of weeks and Congress left for its summer recess without a budget deal. The chicken-playing between the President and Congress – sequestration – with across the board cuts, has already impacted our vulnerable elderly (Meals on Wheels) and our children (Head Start) and much more.

The next round of sequestration cuts will include reductions for public housing assistance, money for schools with low-income students, environmental protection programs, food inspection and scientific research.

A great reminder that we belong to each other is the fact that about one third of states’ budgets come from federal funds (check out the chart* below).

Meanwhile, in my little hometown there’s an advertisement for a managerial job opening – at McDonalds – which pays $9.15 an hour.

*See Pew Charitable Trusts, Elaine S. Povich’s States Brace for New Sequester Cuts;  August 20, 2013 at http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline . “ Stateline is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts that provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.”