You Can't Un-Ring a Bell

You cannot un-ring a bell. But you can choose to let it fade.

The issue of race in America is a bell that has been ringing for three centuries, often without an answer. One side rings the bell by speaking of past hurt without context, without acknowledgment of progress. And the bell fades. The other side rings the bell to point out modern failures, without acknowledgment of historical injustice that continues to this day. And the bell fades.

The sound of the bell is too often replaced by a chant from the basement of time. It is a lullaby of the human soul that keeps the angels of our better nature in slumber. The song has afflicted America since the dawn of our age and it is indeed quiet, persistent and deep. It stirs our fears and blankets our dreams.

But every once in a long while, we do answer the call. And we change and grow as a nation.

Yesterday, Barak Obama didn't ignore the race bell of America. He didn't simply answer it. Instead, he rang the bell louder. And we all need to answer because we live in consequential times. We need to ring it louder because we have people to feed, worlds to discover and bridges to build. But we can only do it as one people, with one purpose.

We cannot succumb to the indignities of the lullaby until our work is finished. Our shared future is calling us home.