It’s now almost 2:00 pm on Election Day, and I feel a sense of limbo. The frantic pace of campaign ads and news has ceased, Americans in record numbers are voting even as I peck away at my computer keyboard, and now there is nothing to do … but wait. I have my favorite, of course, and I really want him to win. But regardless of the outcome of the election, I have hopes and dreams for our country; challenges that will face our next president, whoever he may be.
I hope and dream of an America without polarization; that great divide that has separated our people for too long, paralyzing our efforts to offer equality, justice, and opportunity for all. Please recognize, Mr. soon-to-be President, that ultimately it is not issues that suffer from partisan politics, religious and philosophical ideology, and dogmatic intransigence. Rather, it is people, a large swath of our society, who suffer needlessly while waiting on us to make decisions that will seal their fates. The New Testament Gospel writer Matthew liked to refer to these unfortunates as the least of these. We argue endlessly about the nature and extent of their rights, all the while missing the essential message of Jesus of Nazareth; to wit, don’t ask what they deserve, but only what they need. Will you do this, Mr. soon-to-be President?
I hope and dream as well of a truly post-racial culture that not only recognizes but celebrates the strengths of diversity and variety. Many await the outcome of this election in fear that should the wrong man win, there will be a violent outcry from extremist groups who cling to the notion of racial (sic) superiority. Others fear that should the wrong man win, minorities will sense their place in our society diminished, with equally violent results. I fear that we will continue to see our society through ethnically divisive eyes – black, white, brown, or other – creating chasms from the accidents of nature ; identifying with “my people,” and my people only; limiting the reach of reason and compassion to the circle of those who look, think, and act “like me.” Mr. soon-to-be President, you will not represent an ethnic majority or minority when you swear the oath of office; rather, you will represent “we the people” in all its brilliant diversity. Will you represent all of us, Mr. soon-to-be President?
I have hopes and dreams for our country, and tomorrow will not be too soon to breathe life into them. We will look to you, Mr. soon-to-be President, to lead us toward such dreams. Will you?
