I Hope

Now that it's over, I find myself wondering about where we go from here. I was particularly impressed by the following words from John Kerry's concession speech:

[I]n an American election, there are no losers, because whether or not our candidates are successful, the next morning, we all wake up as Americans.

And that is the greatest privilege and the most remarkable good fortune that can come to us on Earth.

With that gift also comes obligation.

We are required now to work together for the good of our country.

In the days ahead, we must find common cause, we must join in common effort, without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor.

America is in need of unity and longing for a larger measure of compassion.

I hope President Bush will advance those values in the coming years.

So do I, Senator Kerry. So do I.

I know that President Bush is a man of strong beliefs. I know that he is opinionated and often stubborn about what he believes is right. While I admire his determination and agree with many of his beliefs, I hope that he can temper some of that stubbornness and truly work with his political opponents to build a stronger country.

I know that a lot of people hate the President because of those beliefs and that stubbornness. I hope that they can allow themselves to be less angry. I hope that their criticism will be constructive, and inasmuch as it is, I hope that it will not fall on deaf ears.

I hope that Senator Kerry is serious in his desire to bring unity to the nation. I hope that neither he, his Democratic colleagues, nor his Republican counterparts will use important issues as excuses to pick political fights.

I know that there is much intolerance in this country – and not all of it comes from the right, incidentally. I hope that we can learn to be more accepting of those with whom we might disagree. I hope that we can learn to disagree and to debate constructively, without resorting to name-calling.

I hope that we can learn to forgive those who offend or insult us.

Most of all, I hope that we can find a way to become the United States of America. If we've learned anything these last few years, it is that there are a lot of other people out there who are happy to fight with us. We don't need to fight amongst ourselves.