With all that’s going on in our nation that raises an eyebrow or breaks a heart; with a fearful minority voice masquerading as the dominant voice; with the hypocrisy of what is civil and what is not — this is not the time to lose hope.

Because hope has already won.

This is why we see such extreme measures to turn America “back”.

It will never go back. Only forward.

This is the way of evolution. Backwards breaks apart. Forward builds.

This is the time frame of positive action.

Bring your best. Be your best. Speak your best. We can have our convictions without condemning those with whom we disagree.

We do not need to become the oppressor in order to free the oppressed — yet we *will* free the oppressed by the sheer necessity of group survival.

All souls are of equal value in the eyes of Creation. And all are needed in these changing times.

This, we will all see.

It’s not simply about civility, as one person’s “civil speak” is another person’s justified position.

The issue is our civilization.

If we choose to believe hope is dead because of some extreme actions taken by one person, our hope is not hope at all, but fear of loss.

My hope is not afraid. It’s heart breaks for those whose fear limits their hope.

My hope does not hide. Therefore I cannot lose it.

My hope can not be destroyed because nothing is stronger than love.

My hope is not false, for hope by it’s very nature can never be false.

My hope is in my fellow humans, not some political party, a President, or a Supreme Court. We The People decide how America proceeds forward. Not one leader. Not one senator. Not one judge.

WE do. We The People decide the law of the land, when we’re not too inconvenienced by our own democracy to vote, to apply ourselves, to stand up.

We only agree to allow our elected or appointed officials to administrate the law. We place the law into effect by adhering to it.

We do. Not “them” — but US.

America has not been this energetically polarized since the civil rights era, and more profoundly, the civil war.

Yet we will not take to war to sort our differences in ideology. This is what a vast group wants, yet we will not feed this obvious chess move in the destruction of our republic.

Instead, we will take to hope.

Hope in one another. Hope in a better method of governing. Hope past a broken system of consumerism which peddles the myth of the conservative and the liberal.

We are neither and we are all. Because we are Americans.

We are Americans.

If we forget this, above all things — then our experiment in hope put in place by our founding fathers is finished. Period.

If we are finished, let us be finished. Yet even if we are finished —

My hope remains. Because my hope is in YOU.

It is in you.

So if the old experiment has failed —

Let us learn, and build something bigger, better, together, leaving the ideology of the oppressor, the sides, the labels, the us-and-them, the who-has-power-who-doesn’t— leaving it all behind.

For there will always be a “them” if hope is not allowed to rise, building bridges with its sister — trust.

Hypocrisy is a timeless master.

Hope is the broker for freedom.

Fear casts us not into safety but cements us in the limits of the past.

Hope casts light into the future.

Bring your best. Build your best. Be your best.

If others decide to be crushed beneath their worst — step to the side and allow that lesson. Yet step forward to co-create the best for everyone, especially if they reach for your hand.

It is not the time to save others from themselves, or to even save the self.

It is the time to save the whole.

To save the world does not mean to always agree. It means to transcend differences into something else. New ways. Bold ways. Compassionate ways that take strength over convenience, people over principle, rigor over rhetoric, and hope over hesitation.

It is time to become strong again, America. Truly strong. Truly brave.

For some, this will seem uncivil. To others, this will seem just. There is no “one lens”. This is the myth of polarization.

The hope of America is in allowing the old world to fall away; it is happening now.

Let us release the old world with gratitude for its lessons in tyranny, for this has taught us the value of respecting one another; let us release the old world with thankfulness for its lessons in limitation consciousness, for this has taught us that anything is possible; let us release the old world with appreciation for its lesson in hopelessness, for it has taught us that “evil” exists only in the shadows of our own fear.

Let us release the old world without judging our participation in creating it, because we are all part of today’s social dynamic.

And let us forgive ourselves for the parts we have all played, that we’ve wrapped in the cloak of shame.

Perhaps we didn’t speak up when we should’ve.

Perhaps we spoke to sharply when it was not necessary.

Perhaps we shamed, we oppressed, we fumed and polarized and blamed and cried doom in our own fear.

Let us place our shame aside as a teacher who showed us what we are truly capable of by showing us what we believed we’d never overcome.

And let us free hope.

My hope is not dependent on outcomes to justify its existence.

My hope IS my existence.

Battle cries are a thing of the past. We cannot battle upon a foundation that has crumbled.

My hope IS my existence.

It is time to build.

My hope IS my existence; This is the building cry of the New World.

#LeadWithLove