I don’t much care for cheesy, or gushy. I don’t much care for hype, or ra-ra. But yesterday I bought the hope of the Inauguration. There was no hype, I didn’t get much cheese, but I did hear words.
Words beautifully strung together as an example of their power. The power of the word to declare and create a new future. A future of course that now has to be lived into with action.
As much as I was inspired by the promises being made, there was a quiet part of me listening with one eyebrow raised, holding back, aware of the enormous mountain that lies ahead. Wondering if the promise of peace and unity could become a reality.
I’ve had an on-off relationship with peace and unity. If asked, for many years I’d put peace above happiness. For there to be peace in the world. And then later, something tried to persuade me that this was a childish notion, a silly, impossible thing to want.
But I do want it. Yesterday reminded me of that.
I marvelled at the power of the juxtaposition of just two words when President Biden said “not by the example of our power, but by the power of our example” to create the possibility of a new future, and a new way of showing up in the world.
Do you have words that you to choose to declare your own new future?
