I was plastered to my television today, watching history unfold.  The span of Donald Trump leaving and Joe Biden arriving enthralled me.  I loved Lady Gaga blasting out the national anthem.  I loved Amanda Gorman’s passionate poem about America … plus her yellow suit and red hat.  And I loved Joe’s speech.  At one point, he quoted St. Augustine:

A people are a multitude
defined by the common objects of their love

What might these objects be?  I could say I love pizza with anchovies while you salivate over pesto pasta.  Yes, we enjoy food, but those are shallow objects of our love.  I could say I love independence while you favour interdependence, and that therefore we’re unlike each other, but that distinction feels like it lies on the surface of our lives, in the realm of personality differences.

If we go deeper, beyond conscious thought for many, what unites us?  I vote for these things:

We all want to be happy

We all want to be loved

We all want to love

We all want to hear the truth

We all want to tell the truth

We all want to receive a helping hand when we’re down

We all want to extend a hand to those who are suffering

We all want the wild creatures of this world to continue living

We all want to look into the eyes of another with peace in our hearts

We all want to be treated with kindness

We all want to be kind

We all want hard work to be rewarded

We all want our dear planet to remain healthy

We all want widespread illness to be eradicated

We all want to witness inspired performances, whether in sports, music or drama

We all want to be ourselves, not a copy of someone else

***

May we express our loves to each other
We need to speak and we need to listen