by Gwendolyn M Plano
I’ve marched in Washington several times – as a student to voice my concern about the war in Vietnam, as a young mother with children in tow to ask for civil rights – for South Africa and for these United States. Multiple times, I have experienced the power of collective voice – even if it was silenced by side-street ugliness. Circumstance and heartfelt beliefs have marked my political journey.
I mention this because women are gathering, to ask our President to embrace the hope of the collective. What is this hope? What was my hope when I walked those well-trodden streets?
This past election has left our country divided. Words have been hurled across a battlefield of broken dreams, leaving a wake of unparalleled destruction. Families, friends, neighbors – each have taken their sides. And what remains? Words…armed words…words that demand that you think like me.
What is our hope? What is our dream?
President Abraham Lincoln stated, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
Again, I ask what is our hope? What is our dream?
One of my cousins is working in Haiti right now. She, her family and church members are trying to rebuild that impoverished and largely forgotten country. The men are building shelters and installing plumbing where tents and mud once housed the starving. The women are providing health care and creating schools for children who have neither. Together they forge a future, less desperate.
Shoulder to shoulder with others, my cousin models something of the spirit of our country. We give generously; we love passionately – truth and justice.
May the women who march on January 21st stretch love into our differences to build bridges across our divides to mend hurting hearts. May they garner the strength and the resolve to carve pathways of understanding - for respectful exchange. May they find words that heal, words that accept differences.
My hope – is for our country united, through and in our race, creed, sexual orientation, gender, education, beliefs, and so much more. My dream – is of a country shaped by manifest altruism. Ultimately, you and I are the hope and the dream.
I mention this because women are gathering, to ask our President to embrace the hope of the collective. What is this hope? What was my hope when I walked those well-trodden streets?
This past election has left our country divided. Words have been hurled across a battlefield of broken dreams, leaving a wake of unparalleled destruction. Families, friends, neighbors – each have taken their sides. And what remains? Words…armed words…words that demand that you think like me.
What is our hope? What is our dream?
President Abraham Lincoln stated, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
Again, I ask what is our hope? What is our dream?
One of my cousins is working in Haiti right now. She, her family and church members are trying to rebuild that impoverished and largely forgotten country. The men are building shelters and installing plumbing where tents and mud once housed the starving. The women are providing health care and creating schools for children who have neither. Together they forge a future, less desperate.
Shoulder to shoulder with others, my cousin models something of the spirit of our country. We give generously; we love passionately – truth and justice.
May the women who march on January 21st stretch love into our differences to build bridges across our divides to mend hurting hearts. May they garner the strength and the resolve to carve pathways of understanding - for respectful exchange. May they find words that heal, words that accept differences.
My hope – is for our country united, through and in our race, creed, sexual orientation, gender, education, beliefs, and so much more. My dream – is of a country shaped by manifest altruism. Ultimately, you and I are the hope and the dream.
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