We find ourselves in a complicated world, in which there is still a considerable urban and rural divide. The divide manifested itself in the recent election.

These were my thoughts at the United States counted the votes during the divisive 2020 election.

My wise friend, historian Joseph Heathcott of the New School, points out that we can trace issues we are seeing play out this week all the way back to Reconstruction. We NEVER brought the issues of the Civil War to conclusion, in fact we shoved them right under the rug. Historians also note that we have never been able to fix social issues through elections or the courts. The hard work of making our communities and our nation better places has to happen in our local communities. There is no alternative to this hard work.

As Joe Biden says, the “other side” is not the enemy. We are all Americans. Although some Americans chose to literally desecrate the graves of my ancestors this week, I choose to believe that if this group or person truly knew the hearts and souls of those buried in the cemetery, they would find kinship.

Our country is changing, and changing fast. Let’s help each other deal with the changes while caring for our families as we need to do. Let’s find a way to work TOGETHER and not let our democracy and our safety slip away. Yes, America has blemishes. Yes, we have to understand how the colonization of this continent ripped apart indigenous communities. Yes, we need to understand the horrors of slavery and the unrelenting racism that followed. Yes, we need to own up to the millions of unemployed, the under-employed, the hungry, and those beautiful children that our government has placed in cages just inside our borders. We need to confront anti-Semitism, anti-urbanism, anti-LGBTQ, misogyny, sexual violence, mass incarceration, drug addiction, and lack of respect for rural American families. But still, there are amazing things about our nation. We have public education, great universities, libraries, art museums, music, literature, a history of charity, technological advances, great medical facilities, and the profound beauty of the vote itself. We have a gorgeous physical landscape and honored traditions. I proudly fly an American flag outside my home. We can be truthful and patriotic. We need to stand peacefully and stand together. If the American experiment means anything at all, we need to do these things right now.