Step Into the Past
When I was riding around DC the day before president Trump's inauguration, I looked at the diverse students on my bus and wrote these words. “ I see in these students’ hope for our country. My eyes tear up as I write that phrase. Let me write it again. I see in these students hope for our country. ” These students were teenagers then. They are in their twenties now. On president Biden's inauguration, fourteen days after January 6, 2021, another young person in their twenties took the stage. Stole the stage, I should say. Amanda Gorman recited her beautiful poem, The Hill We Climb . There is one line in her poem that I think reveals our country’s path forward. American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it. I began writing over four years ago for the first time in my life, to defend the “pride” I inherited. As I wandered around the National Mall the day before president Trump’s inauguration, the placards spoke to me. I was bewildered