I attended the Martin Luther King, Jr breakfast and program on Monday January 16. I was inspired. 

     Dorothy Stoneman's story of YouthBuild and how it has grown to provide for affordable homes around the country, and provides skills, dignity and honor for thousands of youth and communities is a testament to dreams coming true and the courage to make them happen.
     The stories that the students that participated in the METCO program shared demonstrated the courage to love, to be known, to know others, to build relationships and bridges among peoples of different backgrounds and culture.
     As we approach the inauguration of a new president, I am hoping that we have the courage in this time of fragmentation, anger, disappointment and despair to still dream dreams and to find a way to make them happen. That we, too, can build bridges across seemingly unbridgeable divides. Across the history of our country we have hoped for e pluribus unum, but we have also been divided.... by race, by gender, sexual identity, political party, land, wealth and the lack of it. Shall we be a people, a nation that continues to be defined by our walls and unbridgeable divides? I hope not. But it will take courage. Courage partnered with hope is a mighty force. 
     Whether you voted for the president elect or not, we can still respect the office of president. And, we may join in meditation, prayer, marches, town meetings, public squares, halls and streets where decisions are made to make sure that we are building bridges, not walls. May we have sufficient hope and courage to be that mighty force that makes visions and dreams come true for ourselves and our brothers and sisters across the land.
     And when your hope or courage falters, and it usually does for most of us at some time, perhaps the words of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr will keep you afloat:

     Dig for courage. Fan the fire of hope for each other. And, however you can, stand up, join up, reach out, speak up, offer a helping hand, or a comforting hug. Love one another. Love yourself. May we create a world where we recognize each person's inherent worth and dignity and that every person is treated with justice, equity and compassion in human relations.