A Time to Heal – for all of us

It’s Monday morning after the election results have finally been formally projected. We will have a new president. And he (and we) will have much work to do. We are a nation divided, one group against another. This will not sustain us or move us forward. We must come together, slowly, carefully….but deliberately. I respect all of our rights to our opinions and to vote for who we choose. The choice has been made (and I am grateful for that particular choice) and it is time to get to the work of becoming Americans united again. This is where our power lies. This is who we really are deep down. A country that has formed from all different people from all nations….not perfectly, for sure…..but it is our heritage and history and dream. There is so much more power in love than hate.

It is the same with all the various divisions and groups that each of us may belong to. I am a women, aging, daughter of immigrants. To see a woman in the White House as a Vice President is something that brings tears to my eyes. She is a woman of mixed race, daughter of immigrants. She is all of us. She brings us all with her.

I see an older president. To take on this job at the age of 78 is mind boggling. And yet he does. And it is, from what I perceive, a man with a heart, soul, compassion, persistence, kindness and patience. A man who has known pain in his life and can understand and empathize. A man who, I believe, really does have the greater good as his purpose. Our country (and the world) has been starving for this. He has a hard road ahead of him, but at least he is on the road. His age brings gifts – patience, understanding, and a quiet persistent strength. He did not give up. Neither should we.

We all have much to contribute and say. Let’s begin coming to the table and listening to each other. Let this Thanksgiving be the time we come to that table as a country that needs to sit down together…all generations and colors and beliefs and genders…..we have so much more in common than those things that divide us. We can do this.