Dear Friends,
The election certainly did not go as we hoped….shockingly so. I imagine all of us will be doing processing of what the election tells us over the next weeks and months and probably longer. For the moment, I offer a couple of pieces I found helpful today: a thoughtful and somewhat hopeful piece in The Atlantic by Tom Nichols titled “Democracy is Not Over,” and a great commentary by Jon Stewart: “This is Not the End” on YouTube.
I also will suggest again a book I’ve found very helpful in understanding what is happening: The Fourth Turning is Here by Neil Howe. Neil is a demographic historian and puts our current situation in a cyclical context that rings very true. I kept hoping things would not get as bad as his model suggests, but I think that was a vain hope.
What is hopeful is the message that now is the time to reinforce and build community: strengthen ties in your family and in your community. Plant the seeds for a better future that should come after these dark times. For a while, government is not likely to “be there” for us, and we are likely to be much more on our own than we are used to for the next years. Arlington is a great community and we have a lot of strengths to build on and draw on.
I hope you find this out of schedule newsletter helpful.
Still hoping for our Democracy,
Libby
