Wrapping up her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “Together let us write the next great chapter in The Most Extraordinary Story Ever Told”.
She got me with that one y’all. I read and sell stories for a living. I also do a lot of research about the history and development of the United States as a multi-racial, multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-faith nation. I believe if you were to tell the person who started writing this story in the 17th century that it could end on a night like last night, they’d have called you a liar.
Our country was founded by outcasts and thieves and strivers and liars and friars and literal boatloads of enslaved people. It’s no surprise that America is wealthy. America’s land was stolen and its material wealth was built on 250 years of stolen labor and we still don’t pay people who work what their work is worth. No, it’s no surprise that America is wealthy. The biggest surprise is that America exists at all. That we remain even somewhat unified. That we keep adding chapters to this extraordinary story and that so many of us feel enough hope to believe that our actions and our ideals can make a difference in the next chapter of the story.
If somebody sent me this story in a novel, I would laugh because it’s so improbable but it is that improbability, that makes it so irresistibly hopeful – to me.
