This morning, along with my husband and sun, I rode my bike to Chicago’s Navy Pier. This is always a fun, quick ride by Lake Michigan. I love riding my bike in Chicago. I always see all kinds of people walking, riding, holding hands, skateboarding, and most of all, smiling.
It’s a wonderful community to be part of.
Today, it gave me hope.
Like so many of my friends, I have felt discouraged by the politics and discourse of hate and fear.
But as we rode past the houses, this is what we saw:
We saw a lot of flags.
We passed lemonade stands.
We passed all kinds of families getting their things together to spend the day celebrating America.
This is Chicago. It’s also America.
At the beach, it was already getting busy. Families were setting up their picnics. Their chairs. Their foods. To celebrate.
We saw white families. Brown families. Black families. Young people Old people. Hands joined. People helping each other. People enjoying the day with friends.
People wearing red, white, and blue. And a rainbow of other colors, too.
As we kept riding, we smelled foods from all over the country. All over the world.
This is America, too. We smelled barbecue. And hot dogs. And something I couldn’t identify (but it smelled amazing! Also something so spicy my eyes watered!)
We heard music from different cultures and countries of people that came here for freedom.
This is America.
And it is glorious.
Yes, there are people who are afraid. There are people who think they can stop change and hope. There are people who live by hate. There is much work to do. Challenges to be met. Listening and learning to be done.
That feels right.
It’s exciting.
When we got home, we all felt inspired. We talked about what we had felt and what we wanted to do to make this day every day. We love being part of a bigger, diverse community.
We realized that these people that hate–that fear–they can only stop us for so long. The truth is, they’re too late. And they must know it. This IS America. They must know that hope is ultimately going to win.
Happy Fourth.