Elly and I were just talking about how we’re all running out of gas. Literally and figuratively, says Elly. We are fed up. And recently, we are frightened by the prospect of unending war. We are now facing rising prices in food, gas, rents and mortgages. We are hearing lies from our leaders. We are throwing up our hands. “It’s so awful, I can do nothing! I’m giving up! What difference does it make what I do?!”
Not so. It makes a difference. It makes a difference to do things that are important to our every day welfare. Like every day, we clean our teeth so our mouths don’t rot out; we eat as well as we can to sustain our bodies; we keep our houses clean. In addition, we attend school committee meetings to watch out for our children; we speak out at property violations; call the town when the big tree over the road is about to fall. No matter how big or small, doing these things makes a difference. It does have impact, great and small. Besides, it gives us pride and satisfaction to have agency over our lives. It is important not to lose that agency in these crazy times, and to speak out when our welfare is endangered.
Americans speak out. It is who we are. In another country, to speak out would be dangerous, even life threatening. But in our country, we have a Constitution which protects our fundamental rights. We built these rights of freedom for ourselves. We were born and raised on them. We came to this country for these fundamental rights, and will continue to live, believe and act on these fundamental rights. While we try to keep our bodies healthy and well, our houses clean and our employment safe, we must continue to speak out, protect fair elections, record unjust arrests, call out injustices, peacefully assemble. Yes, it’s an awful time. No, we don’t quit. Because this is who we are and who we must continue to be.
The guidelines for who we strive to be are written in the Constitution; it is our touch stone safely guarded and buried deep in the National Archives Museum in Washington D.C. It is our directions manual for how to support and protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It protects us from people who want power at the expense of the people. Our Constitution fairly glows, it flexes. It changes and adapts over the years. The Constitution is who we are and how we live. It is our culture. It is one of the best documents in all of history about how to govern a flawed humanity. Let us not forget that.
When things are going along reasonably well, we go about our business. Occasionally we come into some kind of trouble and we think about that person who was always there in our childhood: present, truthful and respectful — a parent, an older sibling, a friend, a teacher. A person who was solid, safe, honest and true, and cared for our welfare. In the occasional chaos of our lives, we remember this person and how that person or persons helped us through those often deeply unstable periods.
In the same way, we are Americans in troubled times, and we have our guide: our guide is the Constitution. Its truths describe our democracy and reside in our bones. This is who we are. Despite the chaos around us, we remember the values of the democracy we have always lived in and struggled to perfect. We do not forget, we do not let go to despair. Instead, we consult the road map, our Constitution, our steadfast parent, the solid teacher, the good friend, the sister, the brother who was and is always there. In the chaos caused by our president and his allies, we need only remember that faithful guide.
There is a stillness at bottom in who we are as a free people. Solid and true. If we stay true to the laws and principles of The Constitution and do not abandon them, the center will hold, the structures will right themselves and our Constitution will continue to remind us that our democracy lives.
If there truly is nothing you can do, read the Constitution. To read the Constitution is enough. It will take you back to who we are.
Daisy Broudy and Elly Donkin
Amherst