I just read David Brook’s column in the NYT reflecting on the state of our union on this fourth weekend. He calls it the “National Humiliation We Need”. It resonated with me in ways that are deeply troubling.

We have failed. Not maybe you and not maybe me but collectively we have shown the world and ourselves how meager our collective spirit is. In the face of a global health crisis we could not find the will to unite in common purpose with the goal of saving lives. I am not going to assign individual blame, but history certainly will. I am just sad that no one could galvanize us and offer a vision of hope and faith and a way out of this pit we are falling deeper and deeper into, uniting us with their words and their deeds. I am just sad that no voice could lift us up to see above the narrow horizon of political expediency. What I would have given for an “Ask not what your country can do for you …”. Where were our national dreamers who believed that as Americans “we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope”?

I don’t know where the Kennedys and Kings among us are. I am embarrassed (I’ll come to anger – don’t worry). I always thought we were a nation who believed in science and reason. Whose taglines were “Imagination at Work”, or “Better Living Through Chemistry”? It was GE and Dupont. There was a time when at least looking backwards that our country believed in science. There was a time at least looking backward that the promise of America seemed to soar and inspire and motivate. There was a time when we thought we could solve our problems by working together, arguing together, standing together. We believed in each other.

What do we believe in now? Do we believe that we have the national will to get this disease under control? Do we believe that we have the political mechanism and spiritual fortitude to resolve this virus of endemic racism that lives beneath the surface of our reality and can’t be sprayed away with a 60% solution of alcohol? We can’t let this American Dream slip away. We can’t let Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime lull us into believing that if we sit back and watch Hamilton on Disney Plus we will have celebrated the fourth.

The only celebration worthy of the “rockets red glare” is one that motivates us to action. This fourth we know we can’t rely on Washington. This fourth we know the power belongs to the people. This fourth we know it has to begin again with us. Vote. Donate. Sign Petitions. Protest. Call your Representatives. Wear a Mask of course. This fourth we know we only have each other.