Something I think about every so often is how we are sometimes two people. We are people who think we are driven by facts and logic.
And we are the people who are driven by our fears and our hopes.
I think about this today, during Black History Month.
We are driven to think that we celebrate all people, that our country is a land of opportunity, that anyone can succeed. Black History Month celebrates the success of black Americans. Anyone can succeed if they just try.
And we shy away from an uncomfortable truth that such a belief is not based upon facts. It’s based upon naïveté. Some people can succeed when they’re black. Many cannot.
But this idea of hope is something some of us—perhaps many of us—want to be true. That all of us in our American community can, and rightfully should, be able to prosper because we all have that chance.
It’s another form of belief, I think, that we have this hope. It’s not entirely factual, but here is the interesting thing. Belief drives behavior. And if we believe that America should be a country that is free for all, and a society that is egalitarian, and a land that accepts all its people as having equal value, who voices have an equal place in our national conversations—then we somewhat unconsciously begin to change our own behaviors, and influence the behaviors of those around us.
I write about affairs of our nation because I believe we can be better. I believe that we do long for a more egalitarian society. I believe that there are many of us who want our neighbors to be as loved as we are.
Beliefs change behaviors, and in these dark and uncertain times, I choose to believe, and I choose to light a candle rather than curse the darkness.