Democracy is a good thing, keep hope: Your Say
There are problems that need to be addressed but the first step was voting.
Letter to the editor:
It was 6:45 a.m. and I was in a block-long line in my neighborhood in Washington D.C., waiting to cast my ballot in the endgame of the tumultuous 2016 election. No matter the outcome, no matter the acrimony, anger and disappointment, the exercise of democracy was strongly reassuring to the neighbors in that line and to myself. I believe we all need to be reassured and confident in our collective future.
It was nearly 100 years ago that my father and his immediate family immigrated to the United States from western Russia in search of the American Dream. One generation later, my family and I are exercising perhaps the most critical element of that dream: collective self-determination.
Many of my neighbors here in the nation’s capital are economically secure with hopeful futures. Not far from my neighborhood, though, others in our city struggle mightily with poverty, crime and homelessness. A stubborn economy, racial tensions, continuing discrimination and many other issues limit these neighbors’ prospects. The solutions to these and other enormously important issues are at times elusive and will require all of our best thinking to resolve. But one thing seems clear: The peaceful exercise of democracy that we were all part of on Tuesday is the first step. The will of the American people, indicated through our choice of elected leaders and our ongoing, vigorous participation in our local communities, is a necessary beginning of the healing our country so sorely needs.
My colleagues and I are hugely fortunate to endeavor every day to tell the story of America and to better understand it in all of its beautiful and frustrating details. And I am buoyed by the millions of visitors our nation’s capital hosts each year who reflect our story. Tuesday’s election electrified me and motivated me, and my colleagues, to do an even better job.
Congratulations, America, on our collective exercise of democracy. I look forward to our progress as neighbors and friends.
David J. Skorton,Smithsonian Institution; Washington, D.C.