I am from Miami, I’m think it’s cold when it is 65 degrees outside. Because my son was raised in Boston, he thinks it’s warm when it’s 65 degrees outside.
The fact is that it’s 65 degrees outside.
But our personal truths are a different matter entirely, and those personal truths determine how we internalize actual facts.
Today is Election Day in the United States, and given that I dropped out of law school to join a young governor’s quest for the White House, it would be weird if I let this “Truesday” pass without a word about it.
On this election day…
I should start by saying that I’m a democracy nerd of the highest order. I once thought I’d be the first female democratic US Senator from the Great State of Florida. (That title is still open, btw. Get it together Florida!).
And in 1992, I fell under the spell of a candidate and even more of an ideal I heard him describe in an impassioned speech on a tiny black and white TV in a small strip mall in Gainesville, Florida. So, I dropped out of law school, and went to work to get Bill Clinton elected, and later served in his administration.
That ideal?
That there is nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed with what is right with America.
I still believe that today. Yes, even today, in the midst of the most divisive election in the history of the United States.
(Hi non-US readers. Stick with me. I promise, this applies to you, too.)
The Preamble to our United States Constitution starts as such:
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
The money line? “In order to form a more perfect union.”
Each of us is imperfect. Our country (any of our countries) are all imperfect, too.
The founders of the United States knew that we were imperfect, are imperfect, will continue to be imperfect. And yet, I still believe that there is more that unites us than divides us.
Like you, today I’m going to celebrate my freedom by voting for the candidates of my choice, up and down the ballot. I’m also going to honor my freedom by confronting facts that fly in the face of my long-held beliefs. I’m going to spend time listening to people I think are wrong. I’m going to possibly even change my mind about issues (or at least about the people who hold them). I’m going to open up my calendar and my wallet and give of my time and treasure.
So, let’s do make America great again… by recognizing that there is more that unites us than divides us, by digging in, each and every one of us valuable people living on this land, and continue to confront and learn and grow and forgive and improve this great nation for the mistakes of the past so that we together can use our hodgepodge mishmash tired hungry and poor bouillabaisse of a citizenry to build our future, to continue to form a more perfect union.
Because here’s what I know to be true this week: there’s nothing wrong with any of us that can’t be fixed with what’s right in all of us.
Service is the way.
So, here is my audacious policy solution: service.
Like that candidate spoke to me 30 years ago, and inspired me to upend my life to get him elected, I propose a solution, the same solution, to change, grow, and evolve our country into what we want and need and dream it to be: service.
Imagine if every Member of Congress had spent a year serving in a community that was not their own before taking an oath to the country (and not just their party).
Imagine if every insurgent had spent a year serving along someone who was unlike them before donning their war paint and their hoodies.
Imagine if every journalist had spent a year serving with people who had different stories before reporting their own.
Imagine if we could understand, empathize, respect, and interact with people who don’t look like us, think like us, eat like us, love like us, learn like us, pray like us? Service helps us see each other, really see each other.
Service help us see not just the facts, but the truths as well.
Empathy beats narcissism. Caring beats ignoring. Relationships beat assumptions.
We can’t make progress until we have empathic, caring relationships. And the way to achieve these is through service. We can do this. We can be the America we want to be.
Service is the way.
