BRATTLEBORO — Eight years ago, I stood on the National Mall, wrapped in the arms of my biracial same-sex lover, to experience the Inauguration ceremony of Barack Obama, a man whose campaign slogan had been, simply, “Hope.”
And, indeed, we were full of hope on that day, in that season.
When the program ended, we made our way to the far end of the Reflecting Pool and up into the Lincoln Memorial to read the full text of Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, the one given in the midst of the Civil War, over who would control the lives of one-sixth of our nation's population. It was the perfect thing to do.
My Quaker faith reminds me to be hopeful, even as we watch our fellow humans - and, at times, ourselves - stray from the ideals we value.
Perhaps at this time, in this season, we are students learning the dance between hope and fear.
It is often fear that triggers our fight-or-flight instincts and spurs us to action. This action, in the form of the steps we are each taking to improve our world, will be valuable only if we simultaneously trust in the hope that we can make a difference, that our human condition and the Earth we inhabit can improve.
May we each use our fears as catalysts for change and participate in the creation of a hopeful future.