excerpted from the Poem Dreams before Waking by Adrienna Rich

” . . .What would it mean to live

in a city whose people were changing

each other’s despair into hope.–

You yourself must change it.–

what would it feel like to know

your country was changing?–

You yourself must change it.–

Though your life felt arduous

new and unmapped and strange

what would it mean to stand on the first

page of the end of despair?“

Reflections from The Good Decision Project

To this writer the meaning of standing on the first page of the end of despair for this period in our history would generate the ecstatic in me.  All I would ask is I not stand alone, for the answer to this nation’s despair is unity and common purpose.  The end of this despair for America can only be a communal celebration.  Look around you this Sunday.  Are your communal and sacred celebrations reaching out and gathering people in under a drawstring composed of tolerance, generosity and acceptance?  If so, we are on our way. That would be beyond good. If not, well that is next week’s work.