New Beginnings
Talk about new beginnings. Holy moly.
I had dinner on election night with my son Christopher. He recently moved to New York, and we gathered at a crowded bar with his roommate and girlfriend to talk about politics, my upcoming birthday, and life in general.
I walked home feeling elated. Grounded. Blessed. Loved. Happy. And that was before I watched the blue tsunami unfold on my hotel room television that evening.
As James Talarico said so beautifully on election night, “We just showed that a politics of division is no match for a politics of love.”
Oh, yes, we did. And I am so happy and inspired by it. I’m inspired by all the people who stepped into the arena of public service, raised their hands, and said, “I believe I can make things better for people struggling with food insecurity, rising health care and rent costs, or simply getting by in general.”
I’m so inspired by this politics of love and hope. I’m inspired by the people who walked for miles, shook thousands of hands, and took the time to listen to their communities and fellow citizens. Those who braved the doubters and stayed the course. I’m inspired by all the grassroots volunteers who worked district to district, called fellow voters by phone, set up lawn signs, and worked around the clock. These were people who used their voices to speak up on so many platforms and in so many ways. One of them is Sharon McMahon, widely known as “America’s government teacher,” who writes for us here today. I am so inspired by how she used her voice in this election to inspire, explain, and motivate us. Her wisdom is necessary at this critical juncture.
People power indeed.
As one friend who ran and won said to me the morning after: “It's surreal. Everyone won."
To me, that "everyone" is you and me. It's all of us. And I love that.
Remember just last week when I told you about Father Christopher, whom I met upon completing the Camino? He said to me, “The end is the beginning.” Well. Here we are, my friends. At the end. And at the beginning.
So how do we begin anew? Because how we begin tells us a lot about this moment and about ourselves.
Do we reach across the aisle to those who were on the other side and offer a hand? Do we invite them to sit down? Do we say: We want to listen, and we want to heal?
Is this a moment for reconciliation and rebuilding? Is it an opportunity to do things differently? To hold those who need to be held to account? Or is this a moment to deepen divisions? To gloat, finger-point, and exclude?
To understand the importance of this historical moment, I reached out to my friend Steve Schmidt, who’s a veteran political strategist. I wanted Steve’s take on the nature of this moment we are all living in and how we can make the best of it instead of squandering it.
Before we spoke, Steve asked me to reread my uncle John F. Kennedy’s farewell speech to the Massachusetts legislature before he left to take the oath of office as President of the United States. In that speech, he spoke about his own new beginning and the values he was hoping to exemplify in his administration: courage, integrity, dedication, and judgment. He ended by asking for people’s help and prayers as he embarked on his own “new and solemn journey.”
When Steve and I caught up, he told me he views Tuesday’s results as a chance for both parties to do a better job serving the American people. What the American people declared that day, he said, is that they’ve had enough and want their leaders to do better and do more for them. To be less angry and corrupt. While this was a rejection of Trump, he said it was really a larger rejection of the way our current politics in general.
Here is what I believe: the questions we ask ourselves in the coming days and weeks are not simply political questions. They are spiritual ones. When we choose to rise above, we are making a spiritual choice. When we choose to treat our neighbors with love and compassion, we are making a spiritual choice. When we choose to practice the politics of love, we are answering a deeper call. How we move forward in this new beginning will say a great deal about who we are, deep down.
This is a moment of reckoning. An opportunity. A solemn choice. A moment for spiritual discernment. My hope is that we recognize it as such and treat it accordingly.
Ever since I returned from the Camino, I've been thinking, meditating, and trying to manifest a new beginning for myself. Walking the Camino gave me a lesson in connection. First, there was the Rumi quote—“What you are seeking is seeking you”—that came to me on my final day of the walk. And then there was my realization that what I'd been seeking and walking toward was more connection in my life. I came home intent on being more connected to myself, more connected to my heart, and more open to others and to all the possibilities of life.
Then I landed right into the inaugural Friendship Tour with my dear friend Hoda Kotb. What a blessed coincidence. I spent five days on the Camino learning that connection is what I need most, and then I stepped off the plane and went to an event that was entirely about connection, conversation, and community.
Then came the election, a night that showed how connected millions are to one another. Then came my birthday on Friday, another year of life, another invitation to begin again. Three big life events, all in one week, all pointing toward the same thing. I've learned that when the universe speaks, it's best to sit up, pay attention, and act accordingly. One foot in front of the other.
Bestselling author and poet Yung Pueblo joined Hoda, Chelsea Handler, and me on Monday night for the Friendship Tour. What a night it was. Hundreds of people gathered in a theater in New Jersey to celebrate the power of friendship, the power of connection, and the power of showing up for one another. The room felt electric.
The next morning, as if on cue, Yung Pueblo sent these words about heartbreak to me and the others: “Let this be a moment of powerful rebirth for you. The hurt is real, but so is the potential for you to emerge as a restored and revitalized version of yourself. Let this ending be the beginning of a beautiful new chapter in your life.”
This is what this moment offers our country, and frankly, both political parties. This is what this moment offers those who were heartbroken on election night. Those who were elated. Those who are navigating any kind of heartbreak, any kind of transition. All of us get a chance at rebirth. So let this ending be the beginning of a beautiful new chapter—not just in our individual lives, but in the life of our beautiful country.
And speaking of wisdom for new beginnings, this Tuesday, my publishing imprint The Open Field will release a new book on the wisdom of Mary, mother of Jesus. It's called Let It Be Me by Mary Aloe, and I’m so excited for it.
I have long been a devoted follower and a true fan of Mary. My mother was, too. In fact, my mother produced a film called Mary, Mother of Jesus, and she and my father traveled all over the world, visiting places where Mary had appeared and talking with scholars who had dedicated their lives to studying her life and teachings. Our home was filled with pictures and statues of Mary everywhere you looked.
Several years ago, I took my children to visit the home in Turkey where Mary lived in the years following Jesus's death. It is so simple. So small. So profound. All along the path up to her home, people have left their dreams, prayers, and wishes twisted on pieces of paper and pressed into a wall. You walk by that wall and leave your hopes for a new beginning there.
I thought about Mary often on the Camino. There are so many churches along the route, and the one thing they all have in common is statues of Mary. Some of them are of her alone. Some are of her holding her child. A woman who had to begin anew after heartbreak and loss and carry on.
I believe Mary’s wisdom will resonate in these modern times with people of all faiths who are looking for perspective and a new way of seeing their lives. That is my hope because every day, each of us is presented with the opportunity to begin again. To start over. To set a new tone. To walk in a different direction. To reach out a hand.
At its core, America is the embodiment of a new beginning. People came here for that specific reason. They came for the chance to start anew. To love whom they wanted. To practice the faith of their choice. To live freely and vote for their representatives. That was a radical idea in the beginning, and it asked a tremendous amount of our founding mothers and fathers. But they rose to meet the moment and put one foot in front of the other. They kept walking and kept believing.
I leave you this Sunday with a few more of James Talarico's words, which ask each and every one of us to rise above. They ask us to reach deep within and act from our highest spiritual good. Words matter. Tone matters. And actions matter. That’s true whether we are running for office, parenting a child, or leading a company.
“We didn't win this race by alienating our neighbors, shaming our neighbors, or ridiculing our neighbors. We embodied a new kind of politics, a politics rooted in a deep love for our state, for our country, and most importantly, for all of our neighbors … My faith teaches me that love is the strongest force in the universe. Love is not passive. Love is not neutral. Love is not weak. Love requires that we stand between the bullies and the bullied. Love requires that we look evil in the eye and not blink. … Love, love can heal what's broken in America.”
Amen.
P.S. Let It Be Me by Mary Aloe publishes this Tuesday. I hope you'll read it, and I hope that it offers you what it has offered me: a sense of accompaniment and a reason to begin again. I hope you’ll also pick up Eric Danes’ book My Book of Days, which is about choosing to live your life right here, right now.
Prayer of the Week
Dear God,
Thank you for showing us that hope can prevail. Thank you for showing us the power of joining hands with our neighbors and uniting through love, the strongest force in the universe.
Amen.
Also in this week’s issue:
• The People Who Walk Beside Us
• The Unsung Heroes Who Saved Election Day
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