Election day this year was a breath of fresh air for those of us who had been feeling breathless these last ten months.
Nationally and locally, Democratic candidates showed their resolve and won the hearts and the votes of their respective electorates. In this county, we saw the party gain a majority on the Troy and Rensselaer City Councils; in the latter city, a democratic mayor ousted the incumbent. We cheered as Albany elected its first Black mayor and Columbia County ushered in its first Black Sheriff, also its first woman.
I stayed up way too late to watch the national results trickle in from our time zone: the Governors of New Jersey and Virginia. A proposition in California on a three-hour delay.
The City to our South felt like the headliner as a young, vivacious immigrant pulled out a historic win with a campaign that beamed with bravery, positivity, and humanity: three things we all desperately need as so much pain comes at us full speed.
As I fell asleep in Wednesday’s wee hours, I felt the sweet comfort of relief … knowing, but not much caring, that in the morning and in the days following, there would be detractors. Scores of them. Headlines and opinions we can always interpret to mean: “Why Democrats lose even if they win.”
Inevitably, infighting will come when disagreements arise. It’s possible that we will remember what it felt like to watch a video feed of masked federal agents lobbing teargas into a crowd of peaceful protestors. How revolting it felt to watch a teacher being dragged out of a school in handcuffs … without any legal proof that she was even in civil violation of U.S. immigration laws. How horrifying to know that children may never see their parents again after leaving school.
Don’t they know what they are doing is wrong? Can’t they see their actions as villainous? Are they acting only on impulse? Do they have charm yet no regard for people’s rights, or social norms, or basic safety? Are they ALL true psychopaths?
Why else, I wondered, would the Supreme Court absolve a POTUS of murder while the District Attorney for DC fights tooth and nail to charge a protesting sandwich tosser with a felony?
Now I’m not going to say that Mr. Hero Lobber is a hero, but the jury that acquitted him is an inspiration. Civic duty sometimes means saying the punishment doesn’t fit the so-called crime, but mostly it means accepting the role of juror when your number comes up.
Evil might still win on occasion, but it won’t be sustainable.
The good folks are still out there, doing hard work. And their inspiration is deeply satisfying.
We are not without agency. We can all look back and see a time when things seemed better, simpler. But we should remember too that we probably had a child’s understanding of the world back then. Time has marched on. And with it come developments that have enriched us all. That’s really something we won’t abandon.
So hope is still here. Kindness can prevail. We are not without agency. We, The People, have the power to change; all we need is the will.
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