Spring is Coming
Since the election, the attempted “taking of the Capitol” on January 6, 2021, and the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, friends and family tell me they feel less stress than they have in a very long time. They say that January 6, 2021, seems a long time ago. They’ve moved a little further along. They describe feeling anger, fear, anxiety, and hopelessness for so long, feelings which have faded somewhat.
As I’ve listened to or read the words from people I care about—people from different age groups and various political perspectives—It strikes me that if this country’s citizens were unified around anything in the last year or so, it was in having experienced those feelings—albeit at different times and perhaps n a different order. This made it very difficult to find any common, let alone stable ground to stand on and find solutions to things we were concerned about.
During the impeachment hearings, all the feelings rose to the surface again. While many were shocked or engaged at the results, others were delighted, and some even gloated.
I had no extreme feelings. I knew what the outcome would be, despite hoping it would be different, so I was not angry. I admit to an initial sinking feeling, but I was prepared. We had hoped for and wanted a different outcome. So, while I admit to that initial disappointment, at the same time, I am feeling energized.
The impeachment managers did such a wonderful job. They presented the evidence. They were articulate. They were intelligent. They gave us words that will live in our hearts, minds, and history. They were humans like us. Not just talking heads in suits. Not ventriloquist dummies spouting political party rhetoric.
We didn’t see our representatives. We saw citizens who would not let this stand without a fight. Patriots who, despite insurmountable odds, carried on. They lost a battle, in one territory, on one small piece of land—they did not lose the war. They called upon us to join them because it is a war to win our country and its standing in the world back from what I believe is a small group whose values are not the nation's true values. Most of the people in this country are good people. I’ve lived in or traveled all over this nation since the age of four—almost 65 years of getting to know people different than I am and yet the same.
The impeachment managers and those who voted with them served to delineate the American people's stakes and the world’s. That’s who we are despite our disagreements over partisan policy and politics.
Yesterday someone told me that she did not feel we could come back from this. I replied that we could and we will. It is up to us to come back from this.
“Spring is the time of plans and projects,” Leo Tolstoy wrote in Anna Karenina, and as we make our Spring to-do-lists, we should add a category that requires work outside our homes, beyond our lawns, beyond our neighborhood, cities, and states. So let’s get to work. There is much to do. It takes making some plans, picking some projects to work on. Let’s make that a part of every day as we head into Spring. And let’s make working together no matter what side we think we’re on a priority. It’s our republic if we can keep it. And, yes, we can! Let’s leave winter behind us.
