with our hopes not our fears
Curled up on the couch last night, I listened.
As many of you may know, I voted for the oposition originally and given the chance I would do it again. Emotionally, I’m still saddened by her loss. Strategically, I think either candidate was a good choice. Over the past few months, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about him and I’ve grown to respect him and his vision - but I wasn’t that excited by him.
When it came time for the speech; it felt late and I debated not even watching.
I was underwhelmed for the first few minutes. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoyed the story about her family and understood why they chose to include it. But, dang it, I’ll be truthful - I wanted a speech that was worthy of an Emmy; something that would make me want to stand up on my chair and cheer. Something that would make me want to talk about it with everyone. And it just wasn’t there.
He talked about “The world as it is” and “The world as it should be.” And he said that all too often, we accept the distance between the two, and we settle for the world as it is - even when it doesn’t reflect our values and aspirations. But he reminded us that we also know what our world should look like. He said we know what fairness and justice and opportunity look like. And he urged us to believe in ourselves - to find the strength within ourselves to strive for the world as it should be.
And there it was. So perfect that my breath caught.
I’ve dedicated my adult life to this - fighting for the world that I believe should be and not the world that is. I fight to change a world that allows children in developing countries to die because they lack clean water and sanitation. I fight for a world that helps children live to their full potential. I fight to change people’s views of themselves and what they can accomplish. I fight against the thought that people can make it on their own and their success is related to the individual and not to the world around them.
The world and our country is destined to be so much more than it is.
My fear is that we will have another 4 years of … war to resolve issues that were personal, “big man boasting,” destroying natural treasures so we can have more for our cars, politics over humans, and irresponsible spending, shafting those people who are just trying to get by while the rich reap the benefits.
And one day, they - and your sons and daughters - will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. They’ll tell them how this time, we listened to our hopes, instead of our fears. How this time, how this time, we decided to stop doubting and to start dreaming.
Yes.