FUELING AND ACTING ON OUR HOPE

Almost two months have passed since, for me,  the unimaginable and deeply worrying election of Donal Trump as the President of the United Staes.

Anyone who has followed my blogs will know that my attitude toward Trump's candidacy passed through several phases. In hindsight, it began as an all too superficial, even condescending view of Trump's campaign as a vaudeville act--unpredictably and bizarrely entertaining.

As the campaign wore on and Trump's Republican opponents fell by the wayside, I began to worry and to get angry. Not only about the substance of what Trump proposed--for example deporting 11 million people; making people's religious affiliation a binding criteria for entry to the U.S.; rejecting the truth of climate change; making blustering pronouncements which if carried out would risk a crippling trade war. Even more I rejected the crudeness of his manners, his meanness, his disrespect for others and his encouraging such disrespect among his followers, and his self-evident disregard for the truth.

 As I wrote the day after the election, "what troubles me to my bone is that the character he has lived throughout most of his life and the character and values he has expressed in the campaign are so utterly antithetical to what we seek for ourselves and we teach to our children". They would have immediately disqualified him for employment in any corporation or institution with which I have been associated.

The almost two months which have passed since the election have not changed the reality that we are facing a period of great uncertainty, more uncertainty than I can recall at any time of my life. Uncertainty domestically and in our foreign relations.

Trump's Cabinet and other key personal appointments are, with a few exceptions--General Mattis and Rex Tillerson for me personally-- not reassuring. While the "proof will be in the doing" he appears to be choosing people with little or no experience who hold policy views (e.g. on trade, health care, the environment, etc.) counter to what I believe, based on  history and the realities as I see them, are right for the American people and the world.

Trump's continued  ignoring of "truth" (e.g. claiming he won in a "landslide" and that there was widespread voter fraud); his continued non-stop "tweeting" on subjects of great  consequence (e.g. relations with China) and triviality (e.g. objecting to his treatment on CNN and "Saturday Night Live"); his making contrarian pronouncements on policy which remain in the province of our sitting President (e.g regarding Israel), all continue to portray a temperament unsuited for the Presidency of the United States.

Yet, with all this, I will not permit myself to be held back by a lack of hope for the future.

Fortunately, I found it easier to pursue a hopeful path in the midst of the promise of the recent Christmas Season.

One foundation of my hope for is that Trump shows no evidence of holding deep ideological commitments.  Above all else, he is committed to win. That is what drove his campaign and that is what has driven his business life.

I believe if he faces reality and listens to the best of his advisors, he is going to find that "winning" will require significant changes from policies he advocated in his campaign, including on health care, trade and immigration. We already see some signs of this. Only time will tell.

More  important to my hope for the future is my knowledge of the history of our country. We are fortunate to have a system of checks and balances. Most of what happens in our lives happens as a result of action at the State, Local and Community level. In the end, the American people as a whole usually figure out what makes sense.

We have been through periods of great threat to and attack on the values which lie at the foundation of our Nation's creation and continued existence. We have overcome them. We have not abandoned the values enunciated in our Declaration of Independence even though we have honored those values imperfectly and inconsistently.


We lived uncomfortably and tragically for more than a century with the institution of slavery before we abolished it. We witnessed the reversal of the short-lived, still- born conferral of Freedom on Black men and women during Reconstruction. We lived through and survived the depression and emergence of Hitler of the 1930s; the Cold War with its threat of nuclear annihilation, a threat which remains with us today. We survived the McCarthy era and the continued repression of Blacks which gave rise to the Civil Rights movement which continues today.

Still, while it has been written that  knowledge of history can protect us against what can be the fatiguing, hope- draining "hysteria" of the moment, it cannot allow us to become complacent. For it is true:  history, especially in the short and medium term, rests on a proverbial "knife-edge". It can go either way. And which way it goes is very dependent on individual leadership, for better or worse. Imagine if we had not had Lincoln or Churchill or Gorbachev or Nelson Mandela when we did. Recall the damage done by President Andrew Johnson or Hitler or Stalin.

Still, Hope alone is not enough. As General Gordon Sullivan aptly titled his book--"Hope is not a Method".

We have to put Hope into ACTION in our own lives.

And we have to demand that others act in line with the values of compassion, justice and respect for the dignity and Freedom of all.

I draw on these words of Langston Hughes in his poem, "Freedom's Plow" for inspiration:

"America!
Land created in common,
Dream nourished in common,
Keep your hand on the plow! Hold on!
If the house is not yet finished,
Don't be discouraged, builder!
If the fight is not yet won,
Don't be weary, soldier!
The plan and pattern is here,
Woven from the beginning
Into the warp and woof of America:
ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.
To the enemy who would conquer us from without,
We say, NO
To the enemy who would  divide us from within, We say, NO
FREEDOM!
BROTHERHOOD!
DEMOCRACY!
To all the enemies of these great words,
We say, NO!

No one has articulated our individual responsibility and opportunity to ACT  more passionately than Robert F. Kennedy in his timeless charge to youth in South Africa a half century ago.

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends out a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep done the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Finally, during this Christmas season at a service in Cincinnati , Ohio,  the Pastor of my church, Reverend Paula Jackson, also challenged us to act on Hope:

"We welcome the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Christmas for revolutionaries is not a nostalgic recall of idealized images. It is not a superficial emotional response. In bleak days, we seek a blessed hope to motivate us; a glory that shines in the darkness and keeps us moving forward. We don't need to feel better. We need to change the world.

Beware of accepting the grace of God. You will need to share it with people who are not like you. It will make you a revolutionary in a dangerous time. You will not be able to make peace with injustice. You will not be able to harden your heart. You will run, and lift your voice, proclaiming Glory to God, on earth peace to all people".

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Yes, as we begin this New Year of 2017, we face a period of  great uncertainty and challenge. But we cannot allow that to deter us. We have been here before. We must continue.

As I have said to myself many times when facing a challenge or set back, "I need to move forward with courage and determination to get done what needs to be done in my circle of influence; to do what I believe is right".

In the immortal words of Winston Churchill in this famous six word speech: " Never, never, never never give up".

PREPARING ALL OUR CHILDREN FOR THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMY

I am reposting this talk from 4 years ago because I continue to believe it is the moral, social and economic issue of our time. Fortunately in the last 2 months the citizens of the City of Cincinnati have passed a levy which will dramatically increase the number of 3 and 4 yer olds receiving the life changing benefit of quality pre-K education. Now we have the challenge of executing that plan with excellence. And we need to provide  support for those thousands of families and children age 0-3 and those with children 3 and 4 whom we are still not covering. Thanks for considering and acting on this

Preparing All Our Children for the New Global Economy

OCTOBER 24, 2012

In thinking about comments I might make as Francie and I accept this award, Kathy Merchant suggested I go back to a talk which I gave 22 years ago.  The talk was titled:  “The New Global Economy:  Is the U.S. Ready?”   Why go back 22 years?  Because the focus of that talk -- the “education of our youth” and my assessment of our readiness to compete on the global stage are as centrally relevant today as they were 22 years ago and remain core to the work of GCF. 

I’ll start with the bad news.  The response I offered 22 years ago is the same as it is today:  “No, the US is not ready to compete in the new global economy. “ 

Why?  Because we are not acting on the truth that the future of our country is almost entirely dependent on our youth:  how they develop and how they grow.

The plain fact is that today we are failing to give -- not 10%, not 20% -- but 30-40% of our youth the preparation they need to succeed.    Far too many of our youth are growing up with huge educational deficits compared to other nations.

We talk of many deficits in this country.  Trade deficits, budget deficits, job deficits.  But – make no mistake – the deficit in the education of our youth is the key to fixing all the rest.

We all know it:  The future belongs to the educated.  When I was a kid, parents might tell their children, “If you don’t seize the opportunity for a good education, it is going to be your tough luck.”  And it was their tough luck.  But today, it is everyone’s tough luck.  It will be far more so in the future.

It’s a future other nations see the same way.  Young men and women from all parts of the globe are moving ahead.  We are not.

Historically, our nation was an economic leader importantly because our young people were better prepared.  The United States was the first nation to educate all its citizens.  In 1955, the United States was enrolling 80% of its 15-19 year olds in school full-time compared to only 10-20% in Europe.  Sadly, alarmingly, that position of superiority is gone.  

In 1990, our high school dropout rate was 25%.  Tragically, the number is no different today.  Test after test shows that our students’ academic proficiency is way below the proficiency of many other countries.  We are in the middle of the pack.

The education gap which exists in our country is crippling.  Just last week, Brad Smith, Executive Vice-President of Microsoft, wrote that Microsoft has more than 6,000 open jobs in the United States, 15% more than a year ago.  More than half are positions for engineers, software developers and researchers.  The situation at Microsoft mirrors our entire country.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a continuing annual need for 120,000 graduates with skills in the disciplines I just mentioned.  Yet, there are only 40,000 students graduating from college each year to fill these positions.  Graphic proof that we do not have the number of young Americans with the talent and skills to fill these high quality jobs – jobs which if not filled here are going to migrate overseas.  

We could see some of the global changes coming 22 years ago:  the emergence of China and India, the opening up of Eastern and Central Europe.  Few, however, could have envisaged how far globalization would advance and, with it, the competition for jobs. Think of it.  As the world has come together, hundreds of millions of young people are competing for jobs today that 20 years ago were reserved for U.S. workers in a closed economic system.

Even less, 20 years ago, could one have envisaged the huge investments countries like China are making in the education of their young.

Listen to these statistical comparisons of China and the United States as recently reported by Charles Blow in The New York Times:

n  Half of U.S. children get no early childhood education and we have no national strategy to increase enrollment.  In contrast, by 2020, China has committed to provide 70% of children with not one, not two, but three years of pre-school.  Guess who has a better chance of succeeding in the long run, us or China?  

n  And consider this – more than half of U.S. post-secondary students drop out of college.  By 2020, China is committing to more than doubling enrollment in higher education and ensuring that no child drops out of school for financial reasons.  By 2030, it is estimated that China will have 200 million college graduates, more than the entire U.S. workforce.

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Back in 1990, I emphasized the strengths we have as a nation -- our innovative capacity and individual initiative.  Our access to capital, rule of law and free competition.  Our diversity, leading I have found to a superior ability to adapt to other cultures.  These strengths have been evident as firms like Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Apple and Google, have led competition in developing businesses around the world.

And yet, as I said then, can we really expect to remain the leading nation economically and socially, a nation of opportunity for all, if 30-40% of our young men and women are less prepared than their counterparts from other nations.  Of course not.  This is our Achilles heel.  While our accumulated technology and values will attenuate decline, I am convinced that decline will occur slowly, but inevitably, unless we dramatically strengthen the education of our youth, starting in their earliest years.  

*****

All right, some of you might be thinking by now, I get it.  We are in trouble.  You have hit us with enough statistics.  Remember, we came here for a celebratory lunch.  Do you have anything positive to say?

Yes I do.

And it is this.  We have proven programs in our community to help families and their children develop like we have never had before!  And like very few communities in this nation have.  

If we rally behind these initiatives persistently, with our volunteer time and more funding, we can and we will make breakthrough progress.

Allow me to briefly describe four of these programs.  I’m pleased to say that GCF has provided funding and leadership support to all four.

The first is Every Child Succeeds.  Partnering with Children’s Hospital and now in its 13^th year, ECS serves 3,000 first-time at-risk moms and their families annually, through professional home visitors and community agency support.  These families live below the poverty line.  This program has dramatically increased average birth weight, cut infant mortality in half and put 90% of these babies on a normal development path.  Maternal depression has been cut in half and the percentage of young moms getting GEDs and securing employment has soared.

Yet, only about 25% of mothers needing this support receive it today because of the shortage of funds.  In fact, home coverage has declined over the past two years by about 10% due to cutbacks in government support which have not been fully offset even as the United Way has increased its support.

Do you know what it costs to support one family for a year?  $2,800.  Do you think it is worth $2,800 to change a parent’s and their child’s life forever?  I’m sure you do.  And so did a woman at Procter & Gamble where I spoke recently about this program at a United Way presentation.  She came up to me and said that she was going to increase her gift to the United Way this year by $2,800 to fund another family. 

The second program is Success by Six.  Now in its 10^th year, led by Stephanie Byrd and propelled by its long-term chair Jim Zimmerman, Success by Six focuses on delivering quality child care for pre-K children with a particular focus on having all children ready for Kindergarten. I’d note that GCF was part of the initial funding that got this program off the ground, and continues its support today.

Imagine entering Kindergarten already behind other children and unable to understand what the teacher is saying.  Talk about an invitation to opt out. 

With Success by Six, students achieving target Kindergarten readiness in CPS have increased by thirteen percentage points, from 44% to 57% in just five years.  Impressive, but still way short of the community’s bold goal of 85% by 2020.  To get there, we need to both improve the quality of existing pre-K education, and we need more funding to provide programs in more neighborhoods.

Helping do this will be a new campaign, “Read On.”  Its goal is simple:  to ensure that every child is reading at grade level by the end of the third grade.  Why is this important?   If a child is not reading at grade level by the end of the third grade, he or she is four times more likely to drop out than a child who is.  Add poverty and living in a depressed neighborhood as variables and a child is 17 times more likely to drop out.  We don’t have to live that way.  As Greg Landsman has said:  “We can begin to break the cycle of poverty by getting a child prepared for Kindergarten.  We all but break it if that child is reading successfully by the end of 3^rd grade.  The statistics are that compelling.”

Teachers cannot achieve this goal on their own.  Volunteer tutors are crucial.  The Strive Partnership, Cincinnati Public Schools and the United Way have teamed up to recruit 1,000 new tutors as part of a campaign called Be The Change.  In just a couple of months, over 500 new tutors have signed up against a goal of 1,000.  Over 26 CEOs in our community are launching workplace campaigns to recruit more tutors.  Trust me:  tutoring is not hard to do; it is incredibly rewarding.  Training is simple and relatively short.  There is flexibility on location and time.  You will find information on how you can participate in this critical initiative in your folders.

The fourth program I will say a word about is the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative and Jobs for Cincinnati Graduates, which have recently merged.  Their mentoring, tutoring, college access and job placement programs are reaching over 3,000 students each year with a 95% graduation rate.  Individual lives are being changed forever.  

Still, we need more volunteers and, yes, more funding.  

Mary Ronan tells me that there are another 500 students at CPS who would benefit enormously from being part of Jobs for Cincinnati Graduates.  What will it take to make that happen?  About $1,000 per student -- $1,000 to change a student’s life forever.  How could you help make that happen?  By making an extra gift to United Way or directing a grant to the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative through your GCF donor advised fund.

The hour is getting late, but there is one more initiative I need to talk about.  The Strive Partnership.  It is the most promising organization catalyst to transform the development of our youth that I have ever seen.  Led by Greg Landsman and chaired by Kathy Merchant – it brings together people and support from pre-natal through post-graduate education – cradle to career --   to invest their collective time, talent and funding in what works – to the end of creating the most robust talent pipeline in the country.

The Strive Partnership focuses on the most important outcomes such as kindergarten readiness, student proficiency, training principals and teachers and locating community support resources in our schools. 

It unites early intervention programs like Every Child Succeeds and Success by Six with K-12 curriculum.  

These and other programs are working.  But we need to scale them.  We need to support them with more volunteers and more funding to close the enormous gaps in coverage that exist today.

*****

Ladies and gentlemen, here is the bottom line.  Providing the support for all of our children to grow up to be successful is the social justice and moral issue of our time.  It is also the economic issue of our time.   We can see political ads and hear campaign slogans until we’re blue in the face:  “Jobs, jobs, jobs.”  But it all comes back to education.  

The late David Kearns of Xerox once said:  “We cannot have a world class economy without a world class work force.  And we cannot have a world class work force without having world class preparation for all our youth.”  He was right.

The world is on the move.  We must act.  The shocking shame and cost of the poor preparation of so many of our youth is clear in our inability to fill open jobs and in wasted lives.

The only way our nation will maintain its leadership is by dramatically improving the preparation of all our youth.

I will conclude my remarks as I did 22 years ago by asking you this:  Do we in our community have the wisdom and the will and the stamina to act on what we know to be true?  Will we change our expectations and fuel the effort so that we don’t have just 70% of our youth growing up to be fully productive men and women?  But virtually 100%?

That is our task.  That is our opportunity.

Ladies and gentlemen, we can do this.  We must do this.  We have better programs and we are integrating them through Strive.  We have seen again and again that children have the God-given potential to succeed.  We have the opportunity and, yes, the responsibility to help them achieve that potential.

  

We owe that to them and to ourselves.  We owe it to our children and to our grandchildren.  Failure is not an option.  We must succeed.  Our economy and our very way of life as a nation depend on it.  

Please take up the cause.  Do not let go.  Do what you can that, 22 years from now, someone will stand here, addressing an audience like this, able to say that we made good on the social, moral and economic issue of our time.  

Thank you very much.

"WHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR"--THE POWER OF MORAL COURAGE

Some years ago, I had the opportunity to attend the 12th Annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

Jody Williams, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for leading the instatement of an International Treaty banning anti-personnel land mines, spoke eloquently about the power of moral courage.

"Each time you stand up for what you believe is right, it makes your muscles stronger. Doing this will define how you will be seen. Far more important, it will define what you see in the mirror".

Jody Williams said something else that day which I will never forget. Looking at the many fellow Nobel Prize winners on the stage, she observed that there were many differences which marked their lives. But, she continued, there is one thing we all have in common.

"We didn't ask for permission".

WHAT KIND OF COMPANY DO WE CHOOSE TO BE

I wrote this in 1995, having recently been appointed CEO of Procter & Gamble.  I believe it still applies to any leader trying to build a company today.

As I think about the subjects which we so often discuss - innovation, cost effectiveness, system improvement,  people - I arrive at questions which I expect all of us have asked:

What type of company are we becoming?  What will change?  What will not?

The answer to those questions will lie ultimately in our actions and our behaviors.  But the character of what we aspire to become is very clear.  It grows directly out of our history and our purpose. 

• We will be a company where, even more, innovation flourishes and quality and value are our guides.
• A company in which individual initiative and respect for teamwork are honored together.
• A company where our systems and processes are being constantly renewed to be the best in the world.
• What will not change – and we must never let change – is what brought us to this company – and what makes us proud to say “I work for P&G.”
• The bone-hard commitment to doing the right thing, no matter the sacrifice.  Saying what we mean…and living what we say, to the best of our ability.
• The commitment to serving the consumer and supporting our communities.
• The commitment to leading and improving in whatever we undertake.
• The commitment to people in the broadest sense…their ideas:  their views; and particularly as it concerns those who work for us, their personal growth and satisfaction.
• To me there are four summary testimonials that will tell us we have done our jobs very well.
• The first from a consumer:  “I always use P&G products.  They’re the best value I can find and they never let me down.”
• The second from an investor:  “Am I ever glad I own P&G stock.  I’m going to buy more.”
• The third from a member of a community in which we work:  “Thank heavens we have P&G people here.”
• And the fourth from hopefully all of us and certainly me:  “I am proud to be a member of this Company.  I can’t imagine a more rewarding career or working with a finer group of people.”

MY BOOK "WHAT REALLY MATTERS"

While I wrote this book almost 10 years ago, I think its principles have stood the test of time.

The following is from the Amazon book site.

"The fundamental question in business and in personal life is the same: What really matters? In this book one of America’s most widely admired business leaders distills a lifetime of experience, including failures as well as successes, to reveal his answers.

John Pepper, president, CEO, and chairman of Procter & Gamble for a combined 16 years, underscores the importance of continuous change, innovation, and renewal as prerequisites for growth and sound leadership. In What Really Matters he suggests that a preparedness to alter perspective, rethink assumptions, or change course is central not only to understanding customer needs and keeping costs under control but also to developing talent, organizing global businesses, and supporting communities. While he discusses specific business tactics, he notes that they all center on fundamental tenets: listen to and respect the customer, engender personal accountability and passionate ownership, encourage diversity, and create a vibrant, trusting institution that incorporates employees and their families. In his own years as an executive, Pepper has demonstrated that a profitable business can create and sustain a culture that shapes—and is shaped by—ethical behavior. His profoundly important advice and counsel belong in the lexicon and practice of every leader".

“No one should accept a position of responsibility without reading this book. John Pepper provides ground-zero real-world insights into managing the dilemmas that confront every leader—including ethical dilemmas. The business world might be quite different today if this book had been required reading for those CEOs of the past decade who lost their way.”—Norman R. Augustine, Retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Former Undersecretary of the Army, Former Chairman of the American Red Cross.

(Norman R. Augustine 2006-12-27)

“What Really Matters is a wonderful antidote for executives who make excuses for their bad behaviors: ‘it’s complicated out there;’ ‘the pressures are enormous;’ etc., etc. In practical, clear, and compelling terms, John Pepper lays out how to lead with integrity, humility, and —not instead of —effectiveness.”—Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

(Roger Martin 2006-12-27)

“John Pepper’s What Really Matters may been written for a Procter and Gamble audience, but it should be read by other companies and business school, as well as those in government. Not only was John Pepper an extraordinarily creative CEO at P&G, but he also has an unusual ability to communicate what I call ‘character-based leadership.’”—David M. Abshire, President and CEO, the Center for the Study of the Presidency

(David M. Abshire 2006-12-27)

DONALD TRUMP ELECTED PRESIDENT-FIRST REFLECTIONS

Incredibly, worryingly, Donald Trump was elected to be the 45th President of our Nation last night. 

Volumes will be written about this campaign and how he won and why Clinton lost. It took an unimaginable confluence of circumstances for a man rejected by much/most of his own party, representing by his own words and actions values and a character which would not even have allowed him to be interviewed by a major Corporation and whom parents would have warned their children to ignore as being a bigot and mean to become President of this great Nation.

Sadly, above all, this was in my view a rejection of  Hillary Clinton and what she was seen to represent. The accusations of her being self-interested, part of the establishment and continuation of the "Clinton era", being "crooked", all hyped and repeated again and again did their job. 

The e-mail controversy and accusations about the  Clinton Foundation (which has done so much good),  the I believe irresponsible insertion of the FBI at the last minute, the dislike of Obama (framed as Obamacare) and the  belief that Clinton would be more of  the same-- all this added up to a gut level reaction of "we don't trust her, we don't like her and we're ready to try something different even though we know he is unprepared and are very worried about his temperament". In the end,  an act of frustration and desperation on the part of a large percentage of the American people. 

What's especially sad for me it that in her heart and mind I am certain that Hillary is not only a highly intelligent, careful thinker and very experienced but a thoroughly caring, moral and decent person who above all loves our Nation and its people, all of them.  

What troubles me the most about Trump, and it troubles me to my bone, is that the character he has lived  throughout most of his life and the character and values he has expressed in the campaign are so utterly antithetical to what we seek for ourselves and we teach to our children. He has disrespected others, taken advantage of them, it has been about him.  

When we say at P&G and life as a whole that it all comes down to "people and values", we mean it. And we are right. 

 Fortunately  we are a big and strong and diverse country. We will get through this. 

My hope is that in spite of so much of his campaign rhetoric and (ill informed and dangerous) proposals he will act to bring the country together in spirit and policy. I hope he will follow the path of Lincoln and bring a few strong Democrats into his inner circle and cabinet. He needs to make some substantive and highly visible moves like this.

I hope people like Paul Ryan will be able to influence him with positive ideas which the Democrats can align with like infrastructure investment and sensible tax reform. I hope he avoids "doing harm" like walking back the good parts of Obamacare. 

For Francie and me, the blessings of our lives remain undiminished and incredibly positive above all because of our wonderful family and our closest  friends. 

We will carry on, trying to do what is right and helping others in our own circles of influence wherever we can. There is no other way.

 We will remember my favorite 6-word Winston Churchill speech. "Never, never, never, never give up"--in doing what is right and what we are called on to do.

THE PATH FORWARD--REFLECTIONS FROM MY DAUGHTER, SUSAN, ON ELECTION DAY

For the first time ever, with great intentionality,  I am devoting my blog to sharing an inspiring and wise message I received this morning from my 39 year old daughter, Susan. She is married and the mother of two children ages 3 and about a year and a half. 

As for many of us, this long and emotionally draining Presidential election has impacted her deeply. I embrace every word she writes as she looks to the future we must forge. 

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 I’ve taken several things from this Election so far.

#1 One, women have a long way to go!

The release of Trump tapes demeaning women really brought home to me the all-pervasive sexualization of women and girls in our society. Like Michelle Obama said, it really touched something in so many of us to hear these comments coming from this presidential nominee, and it did hurt. When this election started, I wasn’t “all about the women” but I am now. We have a long road to travel to a place where women and girls are fully respected, empowered and actualized, but I am confident that the good fight will continue—and we will get there.

#2 Every voice counts, and I need to do my part speaking out.

Those of us who have been shy, harmony-seeking, not wanting to step on anybody’s toes…it’s time to speak out!

#3 No matter who wins, we need CIVIL discourse.

Let’s agree to disagree, but let our love for each other, our communities and our country over ride a tendency towards mean-spiritedness, violence and anarchy. We need to listen to each other, respect our differences, and find common ground.

#4 No matter who wins, I need to work harder to do my part for the greater good.

I protested the war on Iraq traveling to D.C. on a bus. When the war broke out, I was so  disillusioned with government and the powers that be, I withdrew from participating in political activism. I withdrew period! No matter what happens today, I don’t want a country of disillusioned people. I want us to roll up our sleeves, come together and get to work rebuilding, unifying, and beautifying our neighborhoods, communities and nation.