Ours is a big country and the right to differ peacefully, to learn from that diversity and to grow stronger from it has, or had, long defined us. It is one thing to have and to share points of view. It has been another to demonize those we disagree with. My hope is that we will regain that spirit as we begin a new era of leadership.
Elections should be about choices over priorities and those we select to pursue those goals. Someone’s candidate necessarily wins, but if we are true to what this country stands for, no one loses.
This may sound unrelated, but bear with me a moment. When Pandora, the Greek’s Eve, opened what Erasmus mistakenly translated as her box (pithos actually means jar) all the evils that afflict us still escaped, but one item remained, elpis in the Greek. It is an ambiguous term, but we translate is as hope. Nietzsche and the Existentialists have questioned whether hope was a gift from the gods or a curse, though to Dostoyevsky it was essential for life. Still, hope for better tomorrows is as much a defining trait of this country as any one word can encompass. I woke this morning with that hope once again.
In Pandora’s story, she buried her box or jar with hope still inside. The ancients never said who, but someone later unearthed and released hope for mankind. During the darkness of recent times, I published a poem that reflected on the glimmer of hope I still felt. Today I thought I would share that thought with you.
Apocalypse
Once upon this morning
the sun no longer rose
It was dark all day
and everyone slept
peacefully through
what would have been
another day
Only the end of the world
had come and gone
and with it war disease
hunger and hatred
because the Four Horsemen
could not find their way
Instead we held each other close
and started counting over
this time in days without fear
