United

U N I T E D

In consensus?
No, almost half the country that voted dimpled a chad or pulled a lever for someone other than Barack Obama.

In crisis?
Perhaps.
Our economy is hemorrhaging, our jobs are failing, we're in acknowledged war in two countries (and who knows what we're waging in the shadow of the unknown).

But is it consensus or crisis that unites us, that transcends, in President-Elect Obama's words, blue states and red states to re-create the United States?

Maybe I'm fooling myself and we're not united, nor are we transcending that which divides us, like race, gender, faith, economic status, education level, geography, etc. etc. etc. But as I observe the build-up to the Inauguration tomorrow, I am intoxicated by the enthusiasm and energy that is swelling across the country - indeed, across the world.

Perhaps if nothing else, the global population is united in this regard: we're ready for change. And even if we disagree with what that change should be, when it should happen, the tools that, morally, the Commander in Chief of arguably the most-influential country in the world has the right to wield, we agree that the world is bleeding and needs healing.

We are united at our core, I believe, in wanting to create a more sane world, however we individually and collectively define it.

The problem: we too often get in the way of our own vision by perpetuating ignorance, intolerance, violence and injustice and calling it Truth, Democracy, Freedom and Liberty. I walk into tomorrow praying that this time, in this administration, we get it right more often than we get it wrong.