My fellow Americans, my fellow Hopefuls.
I need to ask a favor of you. I want you to set aside the noise of the world for just a few minutes. I want to have a quiet, honest conversation. Just you and me.
I know that for some of you, that’s a hard ask. Because the world is loud right now. It feels like we’re all standing in the middle of a hurricane of anger, fear, and apathy. And I know that in a storm like this, it is very, very easy to feel alone.
So today, I want to talk directly to the people who feel like they’re lost in that storm.
First, to the ones who feel alienated in your own homes. The younger generation, and anyone else who looks at this world and thinks, ‘This is not what I was promised.’ Or, ‘where are my friends, no one is available or in contact anymore?’ I hear you. You have been handed a map that is torn and a compass that is broken, as it has been for most all around you, and you have been told to find your own way. You are told by other groups you aren’t worthy; your generation is ignorant to reality.
I see you. I hear you. You are not always right, but I usually learn from a fresh, and sometimes young perspective. Your frustration is not a flaw; it is a logical and sane response to an insane world. You are not the problem.
And now to the angry ones who yell and scream. The trolls in the comments. The ones who use your words as weapons. To those who feel anger at the ‘other side’. I see you, too. And I’m not going to yell back. Because I know what that rage is. It’s armor. And it is heavy, I should know, I wore some of the heaviest you have ever witnessed; and you are carrying it because somewhere along the way, someone taught you that your vulnerability was a liability.
You were taught that the only way to not get hurt was to hurt first. I’m here to tell you there is another way. A way that is stronger. And we know you have strength. Look at what you have had to do, the struggles to get where you are in life, through those moments that lead you to be the person you are today. Through all that you had to face in those moments that caused you pain and distrust.
I want to show you that it’s not an us vs them thing. To admit your own shortfalls is a profound sign of strength. Sharing your own emotional burdens shows others around you that you are a pillar they can cling to, and in that act of vulnerability, you can build a bridge so strong that very little can cause its collapse. That strength you possess is what has always brought success and greatness to our country when it was used in a focused and honest manner.
And finally, to the person out there who is in a dark place. To anyone who has been taught by the actions of others that you do not matter. To the person who has looked over the precipice and wondered what it would be like to just let go. I need you to hear me. You are not a burden. Your pain is real, your story is important, and your life has a profound and unrepeatable value. The world may have convinced you that you are invisible, but I see you. You are not alone in this.
The entire purpose of this work, the entire mission of The Human Covenant, is to build a lighthouse in the middle of this storm. A small, steady light that says, ‘Here is a safe harbor. Here is a place for honest conversation. Here is a community where you do not have to wear your armor.’
This is not about politics. It is not about religion. It is about the simple, radical, and necessary act of remembering our shared humanity.
I probably can’t fix the world for you individually, although I am trying. But I can promise you this: I will do everything in my power to keep this light burning. And I will be here to listen.
Twenty-four years ago, on September 11th, this country witnessed a horrific attack, and in the days that followed, we were not Democrats or Republicans. We were Americans. We poured onto those sites to render aid, pulling strangers from the rubble, risking our own lives for people we had never met. We answered our nation’s call to action, no matter what facet of society you were in. We were great that day. We were a community.
We were Americans!
The anger, the anxiety, the apathy. It’s the modern day skyscraper, it’s fallen on millions this time. Will you be one of the great ones who brings a lifesaving hand no matter its color?
We are a nation of crisis solvers. It is in our DNA. It is time to remember who we are.
It is time to get to work.