My speech from today’s
Woman’s March.
I want to thank each
of you for coming out tonight. It's been a long hard row. We've gone through a
brutal campaign filled with vitriol, misogyny and racism. And for many of us
the election of our newest president has only underscored those things.
But regardless of who
won we've all been witness to a degree of brutality that had never been a part
of a presidential race before this time.
We can't unsee the
mocking gestures made. We can't unhear the ugly comments made about people of
color, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, immigrants and others.
We can't unhear those
things but we can choose to not let those words and actions
cloud our vision of America. How we create the United States
of America in our own families, in our own communities. We get to choose how we
live out the noble ideals of our nation.
No president makes a
nation. We do.
And we are choosing
healing tonight. We are choosing to rise above the rhetoric of hate. We are
choosing to speak the language of love.
We are here because we
believe that when we gather in community, that's where healing happens. Not in
isolation, not hiding behind labels of who's in or out. But in community.
A new era begins
tonight. A new testing of our nation and what makes us strong. These are
uncertain times but let us remember in the words of Gunilla Norris:
Each of us can make a
difference.
Politicians and
visionaries will not return us
to the sacredness of
life.
That will be done by
ordinary men and women
who together or alone
can say,
Remember to breathe,
remember to feel,
remember to care,
let us do this for our
children and ourselves
and our children's
children.
Let us practice for
life's sake.
So let us go forth
now. Practicing , for life's sake the art of being kind, of reaching across
borders, of building bridges of hope not walls of divisiveness.
Let the healing begin
now. let us remember that
"We must accept
finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope." --Martin Luther
Parker Palmer states
“I continue to harbor
the hope
that this political
season of our discontent
will help us think
more clearly and deeply
about who we are as a
people.”
And I would add to
then do the work to heal our nation
This is not about who
won or lost
This is about who we
will choose to be
As a nation going
forward.
In the words of poet,
David Whyte:
“This is not
the age of
information.
This is not
the age of
information.
Forget the news,
and the radio,
and the blurred
screen.
This is the time of
loaves
and fishes.
People are hungry,
and one good word is
bread
for a thousand.”
I hope you will join
me in sharing the loaves and fishes of hope and peace and justice and love.
And that way, no
matter which candidate has won, we all win. May it be so.
