My last journal entry was about forgiveness and second chances. About how making mistakes is human and forgiveness is divine. And I imagine there will be a lot of people in the next few weeks wanting to divorce themselves from the things they did over the last few years. And there will also be people calling for unity, saying we need to come together and heal the wounds that have divided us. I did just that in my last entry.
Well, there’s something else that needs to be said and taken to heart, because while we do need to heal and we do need forgiveness, it would be an error to think that we will simply forget what happened.
Do not mistake kindness for weakness. Do not mistake empathy as an opportunity to take advantage. Do not think that just because we are looking to heal and move forward that we will let go of what has happened, or let it happen again.
Michelle Obama famously said that “when they go low, we go high”. I have talked up the benefits of compassion and understanding many times in this blog but understand this. Just because we will not sink to the level of our opponents does not mean that we will tolerate that behavior.
For those that rise above their actions of the last four years and choose to be on the right side of history, there are those of us who will forgive you. But to those of you who think that the “tolerant left” will be pushovers and that will allow the greed and hate of the last four years to continue, you will find yourself sorely mistaken.
Biden’s election was the start of the healing. Only the beginning. If there was one good thing that Trump did, it was to pull together those people who oppose him so that the work of making this world better could be done.
To those that choose kindness, we will be kind. To those that choose compassion, we will be compassionate. To those that choose to understand, we will be empathic. But to those who choose intolerance, or greed, or hatred, you will find nothing but righteous anger.
It is a new world. The United States rose up and said “No more”. So make your choices carefully because while we may be kind, we are not weak.
