Today, I write a message, that I hope can be read not through the eyes of party lines, but through the eyes of what it means to be an American. I’m proud to be an American, because it means that I live in a country that is on a perpetual path of progress. Today, I saw that progress. I saw women and men from all different backgrounds, from all different walks of life, men and women who have chosen to serve for the greater good, come together to celebrate what democracy is all about - one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for ALL. I don’t think I’ve appreciated the Pledge of Allegiance as much as I should have, until today. If we could just look at President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris through the eyes of what they represent, faith in our democracy and hope for a better tomorrow, and not politics, for a moment we can all be united. They are here to serve, to serve this great country, and to serve you, by setting an example of what strong, respectful and compassionate leadership is. Not what it isn’t. To help get this nation back on the perpetual path of progress.
The last four years, we’ve seen too much of what leadership should not be. It’s time for all of us, to lift up and see each other for our common values and our common desire to be good people, to provide for our loved ones, and to be heard. Because if we don’t, we will only disappoint ourselves. We will only disappoint the generations to come. We will be the generation that stopped choosing to bring out the best in each other, and instead, followed in the misleading dark footsteps of tearing each other down.
I don’t pretend to grasp the magnitude of what it will take for this nation to heal. For families to be able to talk politics again without breaking out into fights or having to endure silence that speaks louder than words. But I do know this, President Biden has already had an impact on me, on what I am writing right now, and what I’m choosing to leave out. As Biden said, let us focus on unity and moving forward.
I want to end this with an excerpt from my newest hero, Amanda Groman. Her poem today, The Hill We Move, moved me in such a way that it will forever leave a beloved etch on my soul.
“We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true. That even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried that will forever be tied together victorious. Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.”
