'When Comes the Day'

I am reminded once again this morning, reading through the many reader comments to yesterday’s July 4 post, how important it is to have good dialog among caring people through this time of strain and public division.

Our nation, from our capital cities down to the smallest neighborhood, are having plenty enough difficulties coping through multiple crises. We don’t need unnecessary rancor. I am, therefore, once again grateful on this morning to read multiple comments from folks who obviously value civility, whether we personally call it that or not.

Most reader replies come to me via direct messages to my email inbox. A few come on the ‘Comments’ page of this website. Have a look. But however you choose to let me hear from you, my thanks always to our Field Notes subscribers. There are 493 of you now, the updated count as of this morning!

I am reminded also this morning how our news media are so vitally important. Most reporters we know are doing essential work for us all, especially now, both across Tennessee as well as in Washington, DC. There are, of course, attacks upon them and the work they do; the attacks seem ultimately selfish. But the larger part of our population also seems to ignore all that as purposeful obfuscation and so much defensive politics. I’m on the side of our larger part.

We used to say “Election Day” back when it was just the one day. Today, thanks to the good-government reformers of the 1990s, we are fortunate that their work opened up broader participation in our democracy by way of early voting, for example. And this year, good people succeeded in making “absentee voting” more available to protect citizens who are rightly fearful of the coronavirus. May each of us follow through and find our own way to participate when your day comes.

This is how our nation has corrected its course before and, of course, can do so now once again. Even more so than yesterday, I am looking ahead to this election with optimism and great hope.

© Keel Hunt, 2020