isn’t always just is.
And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it!
Somehow we do it.
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
2/12
[thread in 12: The hill we climb — @theAmandaGorman]
When day comes, we ask ourselves
where can we find light
in this neverending shade?
The loss we carry a sea we must wade.
We've braved the belly of the beast.
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace.
1/12
isn’t always just is.
And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it!
Somehow we do it.
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
2/12
where a skinny black girl descended from slaves
and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.
Yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine,
but that doesn’t mean..
3/12
We are striving to forge our union with purpose
to compose a country committed
to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man.
So we lift our gazes not to what stands between us,
but what stands before us!
4/12
to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true.
5/12
That even as we hurt, we hoped.
That even as we tired, we tried
that will forever be tied
together victorious.
Not because we will never again know defeat,
but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision..
6/12
and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid.
If we’re to live up to her own time,
then victory won’t lie in the blade,
but in all the bridges we’ve made!
That is the promise to glade,
the hill we climb if only we dare.
7/12
than a pride we inherit
it’s the past we step into and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a forest that
would shatter our nation
rather than share it.
Would destroy our country
if it meant delaying democracy.
This effort very nearly succeeded.
8/15
periodically delayed,
it can never be permanently defeated!
In this truth, in this faith we trust for while
we have our eyes on the future,
history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption.
We feared it at its inception.
9/15
to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour,
but within it, we found the power
to author a new chapter,
to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly
prevail over catastrophe?
10/15
to what was,
but move to what
shall be a country that is bruised,
but whole, benevolent, but bold, fierce, and free!
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction
and inertia will be the
inheritance of..
11/15
Our blunders become their burdens!
But one thing is certain,
if we merge mercy with might and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright.
12/15
better than one we were left with!
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest
we will raise this wounded world
into a wondrous one!
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the West.
We will rise from the wind-swept Northeast..
13/15
We will rise from the Lake Rim cities of the Midwestern states. We will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile and recover in every known nook of our nation,..
14/15
More from Culture
I just finished Eric Adler's The Battle of the Classics, and wanted to say something about Joel Christiansen's review linked below. I am not sure what motivates the review (I speculate a bit below), but it gives a very misleading impression of the book. 1/x
The meat of the criticism is that the history Adler gives is insufficiently critical. Adler describes a few figures who had a great influence on how the modern US university was formed. It's certainly critical: it focuses on the social Darwinism of these figures. 2/x
Other insinuations and suggestions in the review seem wildly off the mark, distorted, or inappropriate-- for example, that the book is clickbaity (it is scholarly) or conservative (hardly) or connected to the events at the Capitol (give me a break). 3/x
The core question: in what sense is classics inherently racist? Classics is old. On Adler's account, it begins in ancient Rome and is revived in the Renaissance. Slavery (Christiansen's primary concern) is also very old. Let's say classics is an education for slaveowners. 4/x
It's worth remembering that literacy itself is elite throughout most of this history. Literacy is, then, also the education of slaveowners. We can honor oral and musical traditions without denying that literacy is, generally, good. 5/x
As someone\u2019s who\u2019s read the book, this review strikes me as tremendously unfair. It mostly faults Adler for not writing the book the reviewer wishes he had! https://t.co/pqpt5Ziivj
— Teresa M. Bejan (@tmbejan) January 12, 2021
The meat of the criticism is that the history Adler gives is insufficiently critical. Adler describes a few figures who had a great influence on how the modern US university was formed. It's certainly critical: it focuses on the social Darwinism of these figures. 2/x
Other insinuations and suggestions in the review seem wildly off the mark, distorted, or inappropriate-- for example, that the book is clickbaity (it is scholarly) or conservative (hardly) or connected to the events at the Capitol (give me a break). 3/x
The core question: in what sense is classics inherently racist? Classics is old. On Adler's account, it begins in ancient Rome and is revived in the Renaissance. Slavery (Christiansen's primary concern) is also very old. Let's say classics is an education for slaveowners. 4/x
It's worth remembering that literacy itself is elite throughout most of this history. Literacy is, then, also the education of slaveowners. We can honor oral and musical traditions without denying that literacy is, generally, good. 5/x
