Progress For All

"You will come of age with our young nation
We'll bleed and fight for you, we'll make it right for you
If we lay a strong enough foundation
We'll pass it on to you, we'll give the world to you
And you'll blow us all away
Someday, someday"
 - Dear Theodosia, from the musical Hamilton, by Lin-Manuel Miranda 

(Preface: this is not a post about politics, but about history.)

 I heard the news of the presidential election results minutes after it was announced. It had been a stressful handful of days, the country waiting for news, first on the edge of our seats and then with a background hum of anxiety about the whole thing. When the results came through on Saturday morning, I thought with relief, "It's over. It's decided. Thank goodness."

I opened social media, curious about what reactions would pop up. The first post which caught my eye stated a fact which I'd known, at the most basic level, yet which stopped me dead:

We the people had just elected our very first woman Vice President. 

My eyes welled up. Then, surprised by the reaction yet accepting it, I buried my face in a towel and cried. 

There are things which are possible, yet which don't gain true meaning until they are actually achieved. Of course it's been possible for a woman to become president or VP, but until it's finally done, our nation hasn't fully reached that point. 

I remember the complete surprise I felt back when Sarah Palin was named the running republican VP candidate. 
"Oh! You can do that," I thought. "Of course you can; it just hasn't been done yet." 

It was the same when Obama ran for, and won, the presidency as an African American. Of course it had been possible, for this is America, the melting pot of diversity and land of opportunity. Yet up until then, it was just a nebulous idea. The possibility had to actually be achieved. 

In recent years, doll manufacturers have realized the importance of having dolls which represent minorities: Asian, African American, Hispanic, etc. In turn, so have the makers of action hero movies. Children connect with dolls and action figures who look like them. Having heroes to look up to and dolls to play pretend with of all ethnicities is important, just as having leaders of our country be different races and genders is important as well. Childhood can be lonely and frightening at times; you have a huge imagination which can be squelched or encouraged by those you look to as authority figures in all levels.

I texted two friends who were also emotional over the news of the first woman VP.
"I remember being a little girl and saying I wanted to be president. That reality seems so much closer now," wrote one. Across cell phone screens, we cried. They were tears of happiness for all the little girls and all the minorities who could look up to someone in the White House who looked like them. Yet I also cried for how long it's taken our country to get to this point. In a way, it feels kind of obvious. We're America, land of progress. Of course we should be governed by any mix of genders, races, and ethnicities. In fact, shouldn't our leadership be diverse almost by default, because of the diversity of our nation? 

I watched Kamala Harris give her acceptance speech, feeling lightened by the historic nature of that night and weighted by the sobering reality for how far our young country still has to go. Let's continue forward, America, with inclusivity and representation for all.