Dear America

Dear America,

Last night was a rough one. Tears were cried, fists were clenched, and minds were boggled by election results. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was shocked. But I voted for the things I believe in, and the rest of you did the same. And here we are.

I saw hate last night. So. Much. Hate. It was disguised as terror and sorrow, but hate is its own shade of black and I recognize it all too well. America, we have to be better than this. Who we are is not who sits in a white house tucked away in a district on the coast. Who we are is not the result we receive one day every 4 years. Who we are is US, American citizens. Who we are is who we choose to be. Because after 4 years, we still have each other.

So today, set rage and hatred aside. I know you have a lot of it. But you are who the world sees and they’re waiting to see us rise. We might have a bit of dirt on our wings, but we have hope and strength. And above all, we have the opportunity to love. We have the opportunity to love in the face of rage. We have opportunity to love in the face of hatred. We have the opportunity to love despite differences. We have beauty to offer the world if we can pull ourselves up and unite in our brokenness. We’ve got a story to tell, but it’s up to us to pull our stained glass together to tell it – Not a man or a woman with a title. We write our story and we publish it to the world. You. Me. Us.

Let our story be a success.

Our success begins with you, the individual.

Our success begins with you, the individual, being who you need to be and who you want America to be.

You, the individual, have a light that can’t be ignored. Resilience that can break any chain. You’re beautiful.

And you are contagious (in the best way possible).

So tell your story. Give me some light to shine on my story. And together, let’s tell our story. Because it’s our story to tell.

America, you’re beautiful.  Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.