I know that these last months have been a race to November 8th. I know it has been an exhausting time. I know we're all ready for Wednesday. But I also know that election day is vitally important for our country. I want to add my voice to those asking you to go vote on election day. This is your chance to be involved in your government, to have a say in who represents you and shapes your country. Our democracy is exactly as fragile as the people it governs. The government by the people and for the people cannot survive without the people, without the belief of the people. People have fought and died to gain and preserve your right to vote. Your vote, if you choose to exercise that right, honors their sacrifice and safeguards the nation. I can't think of anything better to do with your life today.
If you do vote, I want you to keep November 9th in mind. On November 9th, regardless of who wins, we wake up and start holding the current president and congress and governors and state legislatures and judges and every other elected official you can think of accountable for their actions again. They have months left in office at the least and they have so much work to do. November 9th is the day we let this past season go, turn back to our current elected officials, and begin the practice that our new president and members of Congress and every other elected official should come to expect from us when they take up office in the new year: the demand for accountability. As you vote, keep in mind who you want to hold accountable in January. Keep in mind who you think will respond to your voice as a voter. Keep in mind the candidates who will listen to the criticism and critique of those around them when they are not acting in the best interest of the American people and the vulnerable citizens of America and the globe.
On November 9th, the wounds we've inflicted on each other, the divisions we've allowed this election to foster, the angry words said and the friendships broken will all still exist. The end of the election will not change the words we said during the election season. We will need to rebuild, and maybe more than we've ever needed to rebuild before. As you vote, keep in mind the candidates that will facilitate that rebuilding. Vote for the people who can help make us a more complete nation.
But most of all, whether you voted or not, whether you've run from this election or cheered on your candidate, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican or adamantly or dispassionately neither, on November 9th, be a part of change that you wish to see in America. Pray for healing, for wholeness. Pray for our current leaders and for our future leaders. Continue to pay attention even as the lights turn away from the government. Don't step away from the world because the drama of this season is over. Hear the voices of those in need and help them or at least help their stories get to those who can help them. Do the good that you can in the world.
The success of the American experiment is not guaranteed. It is only with the honest participation in and respect of the democratic system by voters and candidates that America survives. It is care of the people that it will carry America forward. Friends, let us be those people. Let us care for and carry this great unfinished symphony forward.
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