Driving home Thursday, I was thinking about the election. I know a lot of people were excited about the results. But then I started thinking about the main issues people were talking about: affordability, prices that are too high, the cost of gas, and more rights for working people.
All of these are good. These things matter. But it got me wondering: where are our higher aspirations?
I remember hearing JFK talk about choosing to go to the moon because it was hard. And about asking what we could do for our country.
What are we asking ourselves to do now? What are we working toward together?
When I think about affordability and gas prices, I understand why people care. We have to live. We have to get to work, buy groceries, and take care of our families. Healthcare is a higher aspiration. So is making sure people have a place to live.
But I wonder what else we are reaching for.
And then I think about the money spent on politics. Why do billionaires spend millions of dollars on politicians? If you spend millions supporting someone who loses, was that money well spent? And even if they win, what do we hope that money accomplishes?
Could some of those millions build schools? Houses? Hospitals? Could they help create the things people say they need?
I keep coming back to that question: where are our ideals? I don't think they have disappeared, but I wonder where they show up in what we choose to support.
Is it just the price of gas, how much money we make, and the price of the things we buy? We need these things. I need these things, too. I would like my money to go further.
But I also want us to have something to reach for together. Something we can look at and say, we helped make that happen. Something that will still matter to the people who come after us.
Driving home, I didn't have an answer. Just a question that stayed with me.
What has happened to our higher ideals?
When did you last feel part of something bigger than yourself?
Here, I made this. My gift to you, for taking the time to read.
Images are from my imagination, generated by AI. Writing is all me