Today, every one of us is trying to figure out how to live with, or through, the results of last night’s election.

I am grateful for the wisdom and support of my family and my community in this dark time, as we grieve and regroup.

My parents raised me up with the greatest respect for our United States of America.  Above all I was taught that our land was a place of refuge for all in need of safety, mercy and protection.

The song that most moved me in our seventh grade chorus was excerpted from a poem by Emma Lazarus called “The New Colossus.”  The poem is below: you can find many sweet versions of the song on Youtube.

I am so horrified that the mandate from this election is apparently a to close “the golden door,” on immigrants, the poor, disabled, the children, Native Americans, women, the Planet herself.

Our essential, impossible task is to remake America’s original vision. I believe our fatal mistake was the theft of this continent from the peoples who had lived here for thousands of years.  We must remake the vision of our country to make good on that terrible, and ongoing injustice.

The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
with silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

 

 

 

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