Looking Past the Inaguration: The Inherent America
It seems like only yesterday words “hope” and “change” were fresh to our tongues. Yet today we find ourselves on the eve of another inauguration- as a nation seemingly at conflict. Some approach this moment with fear and trepidation, while others with excitement and relief. If there is anything different on this cold January than the one 8 years ago- it is that we can see ever more clearly what divisiveness gets us. That the isolation we breed is what hampers us most.
This is a time where we must be mindful- where we must realize what separates us as Americans is also what unites us. Because what we are fighting for is the same- to spread our values, to keep the communities we care for protected, and thriving. Yet in that zeal we lose sight of what our insular focus does to our greater unity. There is nothing conflicting about building an America where a black woman from Indiana, a blue collar man from Tennessee and a trans person from New York cant all thrive. In fact it’s upon our nations founding that we set these principals, but only in practice of its governing have we found their truths. We have had many periods of failure, moments where we have betrayed the very humanity of our fellow citizens- yet that dream has never died. Because our greatest failure has not been what we stand for, but our ability to cast those ideals to include the furthest reaches of the ever expanding identity of America. The strong America I imagine is already waiting in the wings- in the bated breath, and beating heart of every immigrant, and native born carrying the same will to provide and prosper. All we lack is the perspective to know at our hearts we fight for the same thing. We fight for a country built not on a shared identity, or history, or value system- but built on a understanding that we can only all thrive when we see our shared interests and work toward them.
We may all come from different places, perspectives, identities- but what we all share is far more important- our collective future as a nation. The future we shape now is the burden borne on every American- as it will have profound effect on our communities, our families- back to the places and people that did shape our values and identity. There can be nothing more paramount, the passion in our divisiveness has shown that. But we cannot get lost in the division any longer. Our nation, our planet, and most of all our collective future cannot afford that any longer.
Tomorrow, the same tables will be shined, new linen will bare as backdrop for the same inaugural table settings. A new president will take the same oath, and be thrown into the maze of the same political process, dealing with the same problems. Successes will be claimed, exploited, celebrated, and put away. Just as the failures we be mirrored in action by the opposing party. The same political process will inch forward at a rate of progression beyond the perspective of any individual president.
But just for now, forget controversial tweets, forget inspiring speeches that seemed to echo across this nation. On this eve of inauguration, remember what- for who we are fighting for. We fight for ourselves, we fight for our neighbors, and we fight for those we may never know. We continue this fight for progress not just so we can survive, but so this generation can thrive more greatly than the one that came before it, and the one after even greater still. We fight in political abstraction so that somewhere down the line, an “average” American- which is to say every American- will find something about their lives, or their community is now a little better than it once was. All else is distraction.
