This is America’s finest hour. This is when we defeat hate. This is when we rise up out of our petty divisions and show the world that freedom and personal responsibility can work together, that there is a pot of gold at the end of the long arc of justice, that despite our disagreements and different perspectives, we are still the United States of America. We are a good nation. We are a generous nation. We are kind and welcoming to strangers. We make room and say “you belong here” to the immigrant who is starting over, to the new coworker, to the family who just moved in from out of town, to the new kid in school, to the drunk who can’t seem to stay sober, to the beggar who can’t seem to get back on her feet, to those who have lost everything, to the ones who threw it all away. Fear itself is the enemy we have banished from our imaginations. We will not allow it to populate our minds with monsters or project the words “enemy,” “bad guys,” or “them” onto our neighbors. There is no “them.” There is only we. We will not let fear get the best of us. We will not let suspicion divide us. We will not let our hurt turn sour and spoil the public good. We will ferment our pain with grieving and longing, so we become sweet to those who taste, imparting all with hope and strength and intoxicating them with joy.
