The road to making America great again

All of us were embarrassed, I hope, by the audiotape of Donald Trump’s ugly boast about women. Embarrassed and awakened again to the destructive nature of demeaning and bullying speech that, while not new, has gained new purchase in our society. The statements made public 10 days ago were only the latest in a season of awful speech regarding women, immigrants and Muslims.

While our democracy defends the rights of people to say what they will, and depends on outsider voices getting a hearing, there are some standards we expect in our public officials. These certainly include some level of maturity and self-awareness, some basic respect and civility. However much Trump voices the frustration of many of our citizens, he continues to prove incapable of the basic human dignity and respect, let alone bearing, we expect in a president.

There are other qualifications we should hope for, too, including a good grasp of world affairs, some knowledge and sense of history, a morally-informed conscience, a good mind, a compassionate heart. Thankfully, a great many folks, including a great many Republicans, have spoken out to say that what we’ve heard and seen doesn’t represent us or our country, that we are better than this. And as a Christian, I’m grateful that those who’ve objected include very many of our faith leaders.

But after Trump is rejected by the majority of voters on Nov. 8, and Hillary Clinton is elected, the challenges facing us and the divisions among us will remain. The frustrations and fears that Trump has ridden all this way are certainly real. The political establishment as a whole has too often been out-of-touch and ineffective. And it’s not only Trump supporters who are frustrated and seeking change, but Bernie Sanders folks, Black Lives Matter, and many more. The question now is, can this difficult and tragic season in our history become a turning point for us?

Newly chastened and brought to face the darkness and frustration that’s been festering, can we take up anew the task of democracy and make room in our political parties and in the halls of power for ordinary citizen voices? Can we engage in meaningful dialogue with those whose experience of America is very different than ours, and work together toward a common good?

We have the capacity for empathy and sacrifice, for realizing our common humanity. Witness how we respond in a crisis, as when there is a hurricane and we welcome refugees from the storm into our homes and churches and public buildings. Perhaps we are not asked often enough to sacrifice for one another. Our response in such crisis situations also reveals, I believe, a hunger for simple human engagement in a lonely age.

It’s not a question of pretending there aren’t real differences among us. Our deep political divisions reflect our different backgrounds and experiences and ways of seeing the world. We have different notions about how to fix things and about the role of government. But nearly all of us recognize the need for collective action to address the challenges that face us as a nation, and want our government to work again.

All of us are proud of our country and want it to live up to its promise as a great nation, a model of freedom and opportunity. And the great majority would agree that the ugly divisiveness, the “tribalism,” the hunkering down and mistrust of our fellow Americans is not what we’re after.

So much depends on how we perceive others in this big, increasingly diverse nation. Whether as strangers who threaten us and our way of life, or as fellow human beings whose background and experience may be very different than our own, but whose basic aspirations for themselves and their families is much the same as ours. So much depends on relationships, on our getting to know one another, and on basic human empathy and good will.

And, on which voices we listen to and allow to shape our hearts and minds. We would all do well to recall Jesus’ admonition to his followers, “Pay attention to what you hear.” And to Aslan’s word to Susan in “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “You have listened to fears, child. Come, let me breathe on you.”

We have had enough bombast, bigotry, meanness and violence over this past year to last a lifetime. Isn’t it time now for us to find new respect for ourselves and one another? for some civil, constructive conversation (some “fearless dialogue”)? for each of us to step up to create communities and foster conversations worthy of our children?

Isn’t it time for us to bring all the good will, trust, patience and imagination we have to the table, to listen and think and act anew as one great human, one great national family?

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "The road to making America great again."