2020 Election Reflection
The election with no end seemed to have had the entire world holding its breath as we waited for the drip, drip, drip of results coming in from county by county.
At 11:26 AM on November 7th, the world sighed in unison as the election finally got called for President Elect Joe Biden. The eruption of spontaneous celebrations erupting in cities across the US and across the globe resembled the joyous dancing and singing we’ve witnessed in countries after the ouster of a despot leader. In 2008 when the country elected its first Black President, the celebrations were about hope, not the relief that seemed to fuel the spontaneous dance parties.
After the celebrations have ended, the reality of our country’s divisions beyond red and blue, revealed on November 4th will be impossible to ignore. The divisions were apparent to us these past four years, but it was humbling to see the shear breadth of it in numbers, 71 millions of our fellow citizens did not join in the celebrations. Unlike any other election the urgency we felt was less about policies, but about the ideals upon which we hold dear, e pluribus unum: out of many, one. This idea of e pluribus unum is what held the country together after a civil war, after the Great Depression, after the unrest of the 60’s, and after two planes drove into the twin towers in NYC. I’m certain the chasms that were revealed after each of these moments in our country’s turbulent history probably felt as insurmountable and as dire as we feel in this moment.
Ironically the polarization has been fomented by the technology that was created to shrink the world in an effort to bring us together with communities. Some would argue that this same technology helped create echo chambers that separated people based on algorithms, eliminating the nuances that are necessary for people to engage in any constructive dialogue. What is apparent for our country’s survival will require each of us playing a part in building the bridge that will enable each side to meet halfway. The work will be hard, challenging enough to warrant us waving the white flag of defeat, or worse, resignation amid so much noise and division.
When I consider how we begin to build this metaphorical bridge I think about the pioneers who ventured west in their buggies. As each family set off into the unknown they were propelled by determination, but also hope in their destiny being rewritten by their own hands. Their determination and hope has become the current that helped keep aloft the ideals of e pluribus unum. Each immigrant that arrived on our shores with their belongings also brought with them that same determination and hope. The freed slaves, who constantly faced challenges to their livelihood and to their lives, kept fighting for their rights and dignity with determination and hope. Now in the face of such a stark challenge, each of us must find that well of determination and hope bestowed upon us by those pioneers, immigrants, and freed slaves to try to create that more perfect union and to uphold the ideal of e pluribus unum.