Swearing In A Desire To Be More, Do More, Be Better Than We Have Been

Watching the inauguration is always a moving experience.

If done with an appreciation for all that has gone before, and a hope for all that will come ahead.

Our country is one of long held traditions, deep held beliefs, and the steadfast commitment to exceptionalism.  Even when all evidence shows how often we fall short of that target.

We are a country divided.  Divided by hatred, divided by fear, divided by misinformation, cognitive dissonance, and inner narratives that refuse to be open to facts.

We do not all agree on the issues of our day.  We have never always agreed on the issues of the day.  Slavery, women's rights, equal rights, wars, conflicts, gun control - the list is long and will continue to grow longer as we move through the days, years, millennia to come.

And that is ok.

Our ongoing experiment in a democratic republic is challenging, exhausting, and worth it.  In the movie The American President, these words, spoken by the Michael Douglas as the President, ring true:

America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours." You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.

We are never ALL always going to agree on anything.  Our life experiences, geographic locations, and upbringing all play into what we think about the issues facing us. 

But we all always have to be commited to trying our best to be our best to do our best.

The founding fathers who gifted this nation with its Constitution, its Bill of Rights, did so with the best of intentions.  But they also did so with the information, perspective, and proportion of the days in which they lived.  What they set down was a blueprint.  It was designed with hope, idealism, and purpose.  It was meant to be a "living, breathing" document, one that could be changed with the times, amended as lives grew and the world expanded.  Our times are so very different from theirs.  Our challenges, our reach, our dangers, our technologies, our potential far beyond anything they could have imagined.

But our hopes, our idealism, our yearning for and towards that American exceptionalism remain the same.

My hope is that those who continue to wallow in hyperbole, and the chewing with their mouths open of the sour grapes of another lost election, will stop wasting their energy and join in what we need to be doing.

And it is not about their long cried slogan of "taking our country back."

It is time to take our country forward.

Comments

[Chicky]

Loved the inauguration - it was the first time in days that I sat down to pay attention to something without a million things running through my mind...and, like Lori above, I grinned like an idiot while tears were streaming down my face as I remembered the relief I felt last November when the American people came together and made the only right choice they could make. God Bless America.

[Another Lori in TX]

I found myself alternating between joyful tears and grinning like an idiot while watching the Inauguration yesterday. What an amazing demonstration of our democracy at work! I was so proud of our President as he spoke for equality for all - no matter what race, creed, color, or sexual orientation we may be! Let us hope and pray for a less partisan 4 years so that we can all work together for the good of the whole country.

And by the way, The American President is one of those movies that I will stop and watch any time it shows up on my tv! love it!

[Katy]

Well said and a big fat AEMN to that!! And what you said was VERY profound. Most of the people screaming about taking our country "back" are wanting just that, going "backward" instead of foreward. Perfectly said Linda. (or to age myself here, "RIGHT ON SISTA!"

[Nikki in NYC]

Amen!!

Hopefully everyone in DC will get over themselves and work together.

One can hope, right?

[audreyf]

BOOM!!!Precisely what I wanted to say at the end of every sentence uttered today by our President! Love what he said and love what you stated above!

[Amy in CT]

Beautifully said Linda!