LEVY LOSS: ‘Hold our heads high’

As I’ve spoken with my friends, neighbors, family and colleagues, we’re all feeling the same collective loss. We are tired, we feel resentful, and if there were any schadenfreude to feel right now, we’d most certainly own that too.

Our adversaries fail to see the big picture, like how an educated community benefits us all, from skilled health care providers, to robust art programs, substance abuse counselors and technical engineers. Those who voted against our schools, against our children and against our own principles for a healthy community live in the here and now. They see dollar signs and how it will affect their bottom line. They’ve used straw person arguments to distort real facts and live in a world motivated by ego.

It’s easy to jump on the shame bandwagon. We’re worn down and it’s an easy place to go. It’s emotional off-loading and will find us in the same dehumanizing atmosphere as our opponents. Let us not go down that path. We will hold our heads high and lead with integrity. We’ll show our children that real leaders are full of empathy, grace and accountability. We will wake up grateful that we still live in a democracy and by just being born in the United States, we already won the lottery. We’ll look at the big picture, unlike our opponents, take a deep breath and prepare to do it again because that’s what wholehearted people do. We are the brave, the loving, the compassionate and WE ARE the majority.

JAMIE GREEN

Coeur d’Alene