Who Are We, and What Do We Stand For?

Today's post is a repeat from April 30, 2017. It is my poem to commemorate who we are as a people, and where we stood at that first 100-day mark in a new presidency.  As the president continues to hold campaign-style rallies, we must ask ourselves again, who are we, and what do we stand for?

100 Days

Can the first one hundred days 
Unfold the path before us?

The New Deal reshaped a nation.

The Great Society held out promise

But did not foretell the struggle

And the unraveling that would come.

These one hundred days –

Marked by petty discord,

Wartime posturing,

And confused uncertainty –

May be telling our own story.

While many voices still call out

For justice and equality,

Many others turn a blind eye

To the fascist greed

That shapes the public square.

Sober minds can recall missteps in our past:

A constitution that counted three-fifths of a person

To accommodate slaveholders;

A Supreme Court’s Dred Scott Decision;

A government enforcing the Indian Removal Act.

A country that sings “Let freedom ring”

While shackling slaves

And engaging in genocidal acts

Has been our paradox

Of good and evil.

Taking pains to correct past mistakes,

Our country has made gains

In “liberty and justice for all.”

Now we carefully negotiate our way

Through one hundred days of chaos,

Wondering if those gains will be lost.

“This cannot be us,”

We cry in dismay,

“We are better than this!”

This is, indeed, us.

We are those things we hate

In one another.

Where do we go from here,

Now that our true colors

Are on display?

In the clear light

And in the aftermath of an electoral vote,

Perhaps we see ourselves too clearly,

Or perhaps we do not see at all.

We live with divided allegiances

And shared dreams,

Holding out hope

That our best efforts

May yet correct

Our current missteps.

                                                ~ CK

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