Meeting the Moment

What we do now will be remembered by history

As it became clearer and clearer on election night last year that Trump had won, my first reaction was misery and despair. I was exhausted and in deep mourning for the country I loved. But after those first 24 hours, I woke up Thursday morning energized and ready to go. My wife thought I had lost it – I was even singing in the shower and in the hallways of our house.

What was washing over me was that “don’t mourn – organize” and I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night energy. Heather Cox Richardson, in a superb Inauguration Day column, cited a Martin Luther King quote from his famous last speech in Memphis:

Dr. King told the audience that if God had let him choose any era in which to live, he would have chosen the one in which he had landed. “Now, that’s a strange statement to make,” King went on, “because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around…. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.” Dr. King said that he felt blessed to live in an era when people had finally woken up and were working together for freedom and economic justice.

What Dr King was describing is the exact feeling I am having right now. Amid the tragedy and trauma of Trump taking a wrecking ball to American democracy, I am feeling an energy for the fight.

I am turning 65 this year, and earlier last year I thought if Trump won, I might well be ready to retire and leave the fight to other people. I am feeling just the opposite today – there is so much work to be done. Every awful thing Trump is doing makes me want to fight back even more.

There will be great sorrow in the years to come, much to mourn over. But American history is full of sorrowful times and acts and policies.

What history will write about is how those of us opposed to this evil responded. Did we show courage? Did we fight back, and do so effectively? Did American democracy and decency survive because of our efforts?

My friend Cecile Richards died yesterday. She was one of the best organizers and leaders I have ever known. This quote from her meets the moment the best:

“It’s not hard to imagine future generations one day asking: ‘When there was so much at stake for our country, what did you do?’ The only acceptable answer is: ‘Everything we could.’”

Let’s do everything we could.