I Have Seen America: An Election Day Meditation

Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash

We're finally here.

After all the work and worry and predicting and waiting we've reached this day, one that will change many so things around us.

I'm pretty much physically and emotionally exhausted, as I know many of you are, but it's the good kind of tired; the sweet fatigue from working for something beautiful you believe in and want to see continue. It's the feeling of knowing you left it all out on the field, that you did all you knew to do, that you have spent yourself in the name of what you treasure.

Like you, I’ve spent countless hours trying to read the tea leaves of thousands of polls and the words of pundits, to sift the anecdotal evidence of social media testimonies, to divine from rally sizes and volunteer engagement just how this is going to play out. That in itself, has been wearying; trying to visualize the future without the capacity or qualifications to do so.

Today, I won't speculate on what will happen over the next few days, I'll simply feel the gratitude of what I've witnessed over the last one hundred days: the coming together of so many disparate groups of people, the courage of brave human beings stepping into the fray and declaring who they are, the massive embracing of a message constructed on joy and love for neighbor.

I'll remember people crossing lines of political tribalism and religious boundaries to create a greater community for the common good.
I’ll give thanks for seeing the very best of what humanity can do when it is aligned for a purpose that transcends all the superficial demarcations and delineations we usually imagine are important.

I hope we get to have that reflected in the results of the election, that the votes of the people certify that we are collectively waking up to what is possible if we aspire to our better angels and not our demon fears.

But I know that either way, I have seen America over the past three months, the kind of America I know we could be, the America that is worthy of its initial declarations and its soaring anthems.

I have seen a movement of hope burning away the old vitriol.
I have seen young people finding their voices and sensing their agency.
I have seen men dismantling Patriarchy and rallying around a strong woman.
I have seen women focusing their righteous rage into into a fierce wave of unprecedented power.

I have seen America leaning toward a better version of itself.

Right now, that is what sustains and steadies me.

Over the coming days we'll carry one another and hopefully soon celebrate together, but for now, I'll rejoice in what I've already seen and felt and experienced over the last 100 days.

It's been glorious, unthinkable, miraculous.