Last Thursday I went into the city to experience the buzz of the DNC while it was here in Philadelphia. I crisscrossed downtown in 12,000 steps in the heat and the rain and felt powerful emotions lurking around every corner. Love, hate, disgust, weariness, cynicism, hope. They all hung in the air.
As I walked around, I couldn’t help but think of my mom. She just turned 94 and it seemed so incredible that she was born two short years after the 19th Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote. We take it so for granted and forget how much we owe to those who came before us and insisted on change. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”
I can’t begin to tell anyone what the answer is in this tumultuous election cycle, but in my heart I believe that love conquers hate. We’re presented with a small picture –“Bernie or Bust,” “I’m with Her,” and “Make America Great Again.” The big picture, though, is that after 240 years, I am free to hop on a train and walk around a city where no one is silenced for their beliefs.
