1 : the day after the present (the court will recess until tomorrow)
2 : future (the world of tomorrow)
It's been a week since the Presidential election and I've needed that long to think before composing a post. Part of the reason I've needed so long is that I've had a difficult time choosing a word to title my thoughts. (The disadvantage of being WordGirl is the never ending search for the perfect word.) I finally settled on tomorrow because the election gives me a different attitude about tomorrow and I feel the results of the election were that people voted for tomorrow instead of yesterday.
Yesterday, we were a country that said you could do anything, be anything if you worked hard enough. Tomorrow, we will be a country where that is actually true. A friend commented last night that it is so easy to form an opinion and then work to fit new facts into that already conceived opinion instead of starting all over when new facts appear. I believe that yesterday we thought a president looked a certain way (white and male, without fail), came from a certain background (generally patrician, certainly not single parent or biracial) and did things a certain way (the way they have always been done). I hope that tomorrow, a president will look like a picture of this diverse nation we live in, come from anywhere in this broad land and do what is best for our country and our country's future.
Yesterday, we were a country gripped and crippled by fear. Fear of those who look different than us, those who believe different things than we do, those who are not "us." This made and makes me sad. It makes me sad that I am sometimes afraid of people who are different than me. I am sometimes afraid of rough-talking, physically large people (especially men and especially black men). I am sometimes afraid of people who don't smile back at me or won't even make eye contact with me. I am also afraid of people who walk through life confident that they have all of the answers. These are, perhaps, the people who scare me the most.
Tomorrow, I hope we will be a country that stares fear down and chooses boldness, courage and confidence in what our country is and who we are. I hope that tomorrow fear will play a very small part in the way my daughters approach the world and their lives. I hope they will not be driven by fear, guided by fear or led by fear.
So what does this talk of yesterday and tomorrow mean for today? It means that today:
-I will encourage my children to get to truly know other people before forming an opinion of them based on one or two visible characteristics.
-I will get to know my own children and who they are in order to encourage them to do anything and be anything they want to be.
-I will try to live my life in a way that shows what I believe rather than just talking about it.
-I will set aside my own fears and love others instead of judging them.
-I will try to raise girls who are strong, bold and courageous, not fearful.
2 : future (the world of tomorrow)
It's been a week since the Presidential election and I've needed that long to think before composing a post. Part of the reason I've needed so long is that I've had a difficult time choosing a word to title my thoughts. (The disadvantage of being WordGirl is the never ending search for the perfect word.) I finally settled on tomorrow because the election gives me a different attitude about tomorrow and I feel the results of the election were that people voted for tomorrow instead of yesterday.
Yesterday, we were a country that said you could do anything, be anything if you worked hard enough. Tomorrow, we will be a country where that is actually true. A friend commented last night that it is so easy to form an opinion and then work to fit new facts into that already conceived opinion instead of starting all over when new facts appear. I believe that yesterday we thought a president looked a certain way (white and male, without fail), came from a certain background (generally patrician, certainly not single parent or biracial) and did things a certain way (the way they have always been done). I hope that tomorrow, a president will look like a picture of this diverse nation we live in, come from anywhere in this broad land and do what is best for our country and our country's future.
Yesterday, we were a country gripped and crippled by fear. Fear of those who look different than us, those who believe different things than we do, those who are not "us." This made and makes me sad. It makes me sad that I am sometimes afraid of people who are different than me. I am sometimes afraid of rough-talking, physically large people (especially men and especially black men). I am sometimes afraid of people who don't smile back at me or won't even make eye contact with me. I am also afraid of people who walk through life confident that they have all of the answers. These are, perhaps, the people who scare me the most.
Tomorrow, I hope we will be a country that stares fear down and chooses boldness, courage and confidence in what our country is and who we are. I hope that tomorrow fear will play a very small part in the way my daughters approach the world and their lives. I hope they will not be driven by fear, guided by fear or led by fear.
So what does this talk of yesterday and tomorrow mean for today? It means that today:
-I will encourage my children to get to truly know other people before forming an opinion of them based on one or two visible characteristics.
-I will get to know my own children and who they are in order to encourage them to do anything and be anything they want to be.
-I will try to live my life in a way that shows what I believe rather than just talking about it.
-I will set aside my own fears and love others instead of judging them.
-I will try to raise girls who are strong, bold and courageous, not fearful.
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