On the pulse of this morning

On the pulse of this morning, I can admit that I am afraid. We can be so very cruel to our fellow Americans, cruel as individuals and through our governments. I am afraid we will be more so.

I’m doing my best to remind myself of the way our American ancestors understood time and endured hardship: Our Native ancestors, sovereign citizens in their own right, marking change  in thousands of years rather than four-year terms, preserving culture and ways of knowing even through intentional genocide. Our Black ancestors summoning fortitude for two and a half centuries through sanctioned brutality. Abolitionists organizing in (sometimes tepid) solidarity over lifetimes for what I'm sure felt like small bits of progress, especially to those enslaved. 

I am in awe of that perseverance. I search for it within myself.

Of course, backlash to the progress we make to become an America as good as its promise is nothing new. That backlash is still so troubling to live through, compounded as it is by the real threats to our climate and our future as a species.

I am moved by the many ways that Oregonians and SW Washingtonians are doing things they've never done before to strengthen democracy and progress here locally. Some of those efforts are succeeding and, as of this morning, some are not. Yet. 

Our ancestors remind us that we still fail forward, towards a more perfect union. As Maya Angelou told us on that cold January morning some three decades ago: "Do not be wedded forever to fear, yoked eternally to brutishness." Which is to say, we can be both afraid and persevere towards our better selves, determined to earn the respect of future generations.

First, on this morning, we pause. Then, still afraid, we move forward.

Sincerely,

Jesse Beason, NWHF President & CEO