In a few days, our country will have a convicted felon for its president. Since he won the election in November, many of us have been in a state of denial, dreading the month of January. We are exhausted by his lies and blatant stupidity. We remember the four years of chaos, corruption, and “alternative facts” that moved our nation backward and we can’t believe voters, no matter how slim a majority, chose this incompetent dangerous mess to return again for another four years. We live in a mountain of despair.
I myself, like countless others, worked hard to elect Kamala Harris. We wrote postcards, we knocked on doors, we planted lawn signs, we registered people to vote, we wrote letters to the editor, we talked to strangers on the streets, we joined like-minded organizations that worked to get out the vote, we posted on social media platforms, we worked the polls on election day and donated to the campaigns. When we perceived Democratic organizations were not doing what should be done, we raised our voices to complain (at times very forcefully) when our suggestions fell on deaf ears. Yet after all this collective hard work, we were continually astounded that the polls were tied between a competent experienced public servant who had specific plans for improving the economic lives of all Americans and a narcissistic convicted felon who had a long history of lies, deceit, and fraud. Kamala should have been winning by a landslide.
So we worked even harder and when Election Day came, we were exhausted and yet very apprehensive. We knew what a threat to democracy and our liberal empathetic values the demagogue posed since we had already experienced his horror show firsthand for four long years. We remembered with joy when President Biden won and rejoiced with relief at the hopeful truth of the lawn sign “And One Day Like A Miracle He Will Be Gone.” But we now feared that he could be back.
So in the early hours of November 6 when we realized we would not be faced with innumerable court challenges about a rigged election or even violent mobs attacking the Capitol again (hey, when Republicans win, elections are fair, but when they lose, they are rigged, right?), we arrived into a dark mountain of despair since we knew what was on the horizon: a sea of lies, incompetent cronies in charge of government agencies, an ugly return to backward policies like restricting the freedom of women, facilitating racial discrimination, denying climate change, etc., and the very real possibility that the great American experiment of democracy would die in our lifetime. I mourned for those brave progressive warriors of the past generations whose life work would be overturned by a TV game show host.
I remembered turning off the television in those early morning hours when it was clear all was lost. And like many others, for the next few weeks, I ignored as best as I could the political news. Instead, many of us focused on family and friends, sports, music, our hobbies, our pets, and even Wordle, Jumble, and crossword puzzles. Anything but politics was on our minds to help us forget the ugly freight train heading our way. We tried our best not to ask the unanswerable question: why did the American people choose to return this grifter con man to the presidency just when the packed Supreme Court had granted the presidency incredible new powers and immunity from prosecution? We tried our best to forget that we lived in that mountain of despair.
But January 20th is nigh and all our escapist illusions will no longer aid us because soon we will be confronted with the daily relentless horror show of Trump’s second term. So what are we to do?
Well, here is what I did. I took my dog Bentley for a long walk in Yardley on a cold wintry Friday. I enjoy allowing my dog to wander where he wishes and so soon, we were lost. After many looks from him that I was going the wrong way, he led me to a sign that read these inspiring words:
“Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” – Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream” speech
For most of Bentley’s life, he lived in what seemed to him a mountain of despair. He wandered the streets of Trenton looking for food. One day he was found tied to a pole, alone, hungry and unloved. For a while a shelter did its best to care for him, but lack of funds caused him to fall onto death row. Bentley had five days to live.
My prior dog Hazel had just suddenly died of cancer. After many weeks of sadness, I found myself walking dogs at shelters. By chance I saw on a Wednesday the notice that this dog would die on Monday. Despair filled my heart for a society that would allow such a beautiful loving creature to die. I am sure that if Bentley knew he had only five days to live, he would know he had fallen into his mountain of despair. But I did not succumb to sadness, indifference, and apathy. I found a stone of hope for both of us by my small personal action. I adopted him, brought him home, and gave him a wonderful world to thrive in. Yes, there is agency in each of us that can truly make a difference in the world.
READ: Bucks County Teens Invited to Celebrate MLK Jr.’s Legacy at Peace and Social Justice Summit
Think of what one person like Martin Luther King accomplished. Think of what the Czech playwright Václav Havel accomplished. Think of what Nelson Mandela accomplished. All three were imprisoned by unjust systems of government and yet rose above their mountains of despair to effect significant changes to their countries and even topple the regimes or systems that imprisoned them.
So I desperately urge all of you who value democracy, equality, acceptance, human rights, and a livable planet, do not dwell in your mountain of despair when January 20th arrives. The flag will be at half mast to commemorate the passing of a truly moral empathetic president, President Jimmy Carter. (Fittingly it will also be at half mast to express, in our minds, the despair and sadness that our democracy and values may be under siege by the next president.)
However, you can carry on the work of implementing our progressive values with your own individual agency. Your actions, however small and ineffectual they may seem at the time, can make a profound difference. Remember the words Havel wrote in Summer Meditations: “There is only one thing I will not concede: that it might be meaningless to strive in a good cause.”
Yes, each of you are the stone of hope that will bring light to the darkness. Forward, together, and full of hope, we will move mountains of despair to do what is right and just for all.
