What a Day! Indeed. 11.07.2020

When your friend texts you “What a day!” and your thumbs feverishly type out a very long series of thoughts that have been rumbling around in your brain all day . . .

Truly wild.

I’m over the moon happy

• for friends and neighbors who worry about various forms of oppression and/or marginalization every day — that their mental load feels a little bit lighter today;
• for little girls and young women, that they can see a well-respected woman be elected into (arguably) the second-most powerful position in the world;
• happy that young boys can see a male role model in the White House who behaves like a gentleman, who carries himself with humility, dignity, and aplomb;
• happy that all children (and adults) will feel safe knowing that the leader of the free world after January 20, 2021 will spend his days attempting to make the best possible decisions to serve the public good (regardless of who they voted for), and going to sleep at night thinking about ways to improve our collective success in this crazy world of rapidly-changing technology and knowledge expansion;
• happy that children will see that a good leader usually takes the high road, but that they also don’t take any stuff;
• that endangered animals may have a greater chance to survive and thrive through a National refocus on preserving our natural resources before they run out completely and/or are beyond repair or renewal;
• that the majestic and mysterious polar bears on the shrinking ice caps may have a chance to survive and reproduce if the federal government uses some of our collective resources to ensure everyone is as educated as possible about the environmental impacts we all have, and empowers us to make a difference in positively influencing (or at least not accelerating) climate change, based on well-respected scientific research findings by people who dedicate their lives to the study of learning about the human relationship with the natural world;
• happy that citizens will have the best data-driven information about and access to affordable healthcare and education;
• happy and so relieved for the hopefulness flooding back into our National veins this evening, one conversation, text message, and shared celebration at a time;
• that there is recognition of the enormous and irreplaceable value of Truth, and trust, and respect for others,
• and that it’s okay to disagree, and it’s okay to debate, but it’s not okay to be cruel or dishonest.

Joe Biden is human and he won’t do a perfect job, but the “respect scale” for the U.S. Government gets to be reset (if people will just give it/him/them a chance), and we can all spend less time waiting for — and reacting to — the next verbal blow-dart being fired from the federally-paid-for smartphone device in the craggy, angry hands of the President . . . (Really? The U.S. President?!) . . . simultaneously wounding the hope of tens of millions and inciting violence and overall inflammation throughout our beautifully-diverse tapestry of a country, and more time working collaboratively with other world and industry leaders on solutions that improve human life, reduce suffering, and create opportunity for a stronger, more prosperous and resilient nation deserving of respect amongst our worldwide neighbors.

I know that’s idyllic and that all sounds absurdly naive, but I also believe it is a more possible vision for 2021 and beyond than it was yesterday, and that our collective power as a Free Democracy is tremendous, but only if we all start judging each other less, and working together more.

Dream with me, would you?

Despite vastly different beliefs about what is important “politically-speaking”, we ALL want to

be enough,

do enough,

and have enough

to enjoy a healthy life full of opportunities to make each day better than the last.

#DreamWithMe