Crossings

California is burning, and the pandemic rages on, and yet I am filled with hope. The Democrats’ National Convention of the last four nights has reaffirmed my deepest belief that decency and reason can and will prevail, and with good leadership, we can find our way out of the exhausting nightmare of trump and his cronies and enablers. The ugliness, ignorance, and meanness of the current administration and its cultists has been toxic and pervasive. Everything is so much worse than it had to be, and so much damage has been done.

But the last four nights have reminded me how much I have missed and yearn for kindness, decency, fairness, integrity, and reason. I’m gonna shake off my weariness and stand tall. I’m an aging Boomer, but I care with all my heart about the young people who have to live in this world. Now we have to make sure this election is not rigged, vote in record numbers, and focus on constructive action for the long road ahead.

At the conclusion of his acceptance speech, Joe Biden quoted these fitting lines from the Irish poet Seamus Heaney:

But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.

We are at the threshold of such a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Everything is at stake. But hope and history are ready to align. Let’s cross over into the light.