Inspiration and Hope

My working years were mostly at the University of Washington’s main campus in Seattle, where I was a writer, editor, and occasional photographer for UW Medical Center and then for the School of Music, a 25-year career that I loved. 

Among my emails yesterday was one from the UW Retirement Association, forwarding a letter from Ana Mari Cauce, the president of the University of Washington, to students, faculty, and staff. The first paragraph of her letter reaffirmed the UW’s commitment to its “mission of education, discovery, healing and public service,” and its “support toward creating and nurturing an inclusive, diverse and welcoming community.”

That cheered me, but it was President Cauce’s second paragraph that has inspired me and renewed my sense of hope today:

As an immigrant Latina lesbian, I can understand why some in our community may be feeling marginalized, threatened or afraid. It has been a very difficult election season for us all. Now is the time to look for and find the best in each other, reach out across our differences and come together as a community. It will take hard work, intellectual honesty, kindness, respect, generosity and compassion to heal this divided country and world. I know that some of you are already gathering in small groups to do that. Today, perhaps more than any other in recent history, these values must be held up as the ideals we share. We can, and must, create a more perfect union.

Ana Mari Cauce became president of the University of Washington several years after I’d retired. I never had the opportunity to meet her, but reading her letter — and her biography — has been a much-needed boost for me today. I'm going to keep these two sentences from that paragraph near me and read them every day, and hope they inspire you as well: Now is the time to look for and find the best in each other, reach out across our differences and come together as a community. It will take hard work, intellectual honesty, kindness, respect, generosity and compassion to heal this divided country and world.

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