America can no longer be led by politics. Politics must take a second place to ideals. Selfishness, revenge, division have not worked. Because of these our democracy was on the brink of irreparable fracture.
Wake up, grownups. The Constitution is a living, organic entity. Originally written by White Male Christians, for the benefit of White Male Christians, the nation’s defining document has grown in its broader interpretation to include all colors, faiths, genders, and sexual orientations. In a unifying moment of solidarity, the Presidents’ Club—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, representing diverse political viewpoints, stood united under one Constitution.
We worry about what kind of a world we are preparing for our children. But the younger generation is already preparing our world of the future. In the words of President John F. Kennedy, “The torch is being passed to a new generation of Americans.”
Our greatest inspiration came from the youngest in our midst. Grown men wept, not at the words of the politicians, but at the words of a young Black woman. Amanda Gorman stood before the Washington Mall—a field of flags representing absent Americans, and rededicated our country. America “isn’t broken, but merely unfinished.”
The wisdom of her words teaches us that our democracy is not now, nor has it ever been perfect. In so doing, we are freed from the burden of struggling to attain perfection, and left with the achievable task of ever striving towards a more perfect Union.
Our young inaugural poet came forth with a messianic message:
“There is always light if only we are brave enough to see it
If only we are brave enough to be it.”
