Love hearing about this from your POV! I'm typically not an emotional person so whenever I am it's already surprising, but an instance that stands out: visiting the Sagrada Familia for the first time and getting teary. Thanks for sharing your story :)
"Excited and terrified." That describes life in the liminality between citizen and representative, leader and follower. It is a heavy mantle, and I know you'll respect its weight of responsibility and serve your constituents with honor. You've got this, Julie. And I often cry in public unexpectedly, typically during a Sunday service when I'm caught between the temporal and divine, the suffering and the glory, the victory and the surrender. But in those moments, I also remember Hamilton--well, Lin-Manuel's version: "Look around. Look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now...history is happening..."
beautiful reflection, Jeff. also thanks for bringing Lin-Manuel's Hamilton into it; he's surely whom I had in mind when I referred to trying to look like Hamilton!
"Yo prometo fidelidad a la bandera de los Estados Unidos de America ..." As my 9 year old daughter stood before her elementary school and recited the Pledge of Allegiance in English and Spanish, tears sprang to my eyes. This is America, I thought. This public, dual language school in the middle of Los Angeles, filled with kids from all different races and backgrounds, is America. I didn't expect to cry that morning, but there was something about that moment that was so aspirational I was overcome with emotion. With all of the division and hatred happening in our country, hearing a commitment to its ideals in two languages from a 9 year old reminded me of the power of education and the hope young people bring to this time.
wow you just made something I fear has become a perfunctory rote form of blind allegiance (reciting the pledge without THINKING about the pledge) into something I can see as meaningful once again. thank you.
I served in the Medical Corps of the United States Army in active duty for three years, and then the Individual Ready Reserve for 7 years. There were times when it was a hardship for my family and me, but I knew I was serving an important purpose. Once when I was asked about what it was like to be in the military (since I live in an affluent area where most people have never served in the military), I started to recount what a privilege it was to help military families, and I started to cry. I hadn't realized just how meaningful it still was to me that I was able to play a small part in our country's freedom, helping our military service people and their families maintain their health. Now I cry every time I hear America The Beautiful, the Star Spangled Banner, or any patriotic song, thankful for all the sacrifices our military service members make so we can have the freedom we have in the USA.
thank you for sharing this, Trish, and for your service, too. i'm so glad it has brought so much meaning to you, and that you in turn have been able to serve so many military families.
In 2013, the National Archives displayed the Emancipation Proclamation for its 150th anniversary. I went with a friend and we waited patiently for 2.5 hours to get INTO the building, then another 45 minutes to see the faded parchment, barely legible. Oddly, I felt anger that the document wasn't stronger. One hundred fifty years later, I wanted Lincoln to do MORE!, darnit! But then we went to the room where the founding documents are on permanent display and I wept. I still have no idea why I wept at words written by human traffickers but felt anger at one of the first real attempts of equality. My friend, my Stanford senior roommate and a scientist, was amazed at my emotion. Because while I show anger (less frequently now), I rarely cry in public. But just being in the presence of the Fourteenth Amendment broke me. Go on with your bad self, Jules. Do good and defend us from enemies foreign and (more importantly these days) domestic.
yep i so feel ya. when i've had the chance to be in the presence of those old documents, i've teared up, too. it's like can feel the flawed humans hard at work to make things better who had no basis for dreaming of the society we live in now. sometimes i like to think of them traveling forward in time and being escorted through a tour of the America of today by a powerful black woman, say VP Harris, and just feeling their cognitive dissonance around race and gender. i am NOT an originalist!
Surprised by emotion - Just this past Christmas, when my husband and I sat down to a simple dinner alone, and I said grace. As I thanked Jesus for the blessing of His presence on Earth for our benefit, I choked up and tears filled my eyes. That was a complete surprise. I'm not sure what He was telling me, but it got my attention.
Love hearing about this from your POV! I'm typically not an emotional person so whenever I am it's already surprising, but an instance that stands out: visiting the Sagrada Familia for the first time and getting teary. Thanks for sharing your story :)
thank you for sharing. i had to look up Sagrada Familia!
"Excited and terrified." That describes life in the liminality between citizen and representative, leader and follower. It is a heavy mantle, and I know you'll respect its weight of responsibility and serve your constituents with honor. You've got this, Julie. And I often cry in public unexpectedly, typically during a Sunday service when I'm caught between the temporal and divine, the suffering and the glory, the victory and the surrender. But in those moments, I also remember Hamilton--well, Lin-Manuel's version: "Look around. Look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now...history is happening..."
beautiful reflection, Jeff. also thanks for bringing Lin-Manuel's Hamilton into it; he's surely whom I had in mind when I referred to trying to look like Hamilton!
"Yo prometo fidelidad a la bandera de los Estados Unidos de America ..." As my 9 year old daughter stood before her elementary school and recited the Pledge of Allegiance in English and Spanish, tears sprang to my eyes. This is America, I thought. This public, dual language school in the middle of Los Angeles, filled with kids from all different races and backgrounds, is America. I didn't expect to cry that morning, but there was something about that moment that was so aspirational I was overcome with emotion. With all of the division and hatred happening in our country, hearing a commitment to its ideals in two languages from a 9 year old reminded me of the power of education and the hope young people bring to this time.
wow you just made something I fear has become a perfunctory rote form of blind allegiance (reciting the pledge without THINKING about the pledge) into something I can see as meaningful once again. thank you.
I served in the Medical Corps of the United States Army in active duty for three years, and then the Individual Ready Reserve for 7 years. There were times when it was a hardship for my family and me, but I knew I was serving an important purpose. Once when I was asked about what it was like to be in the military (since I live in an affluent area where most people have never served in the military), I started to recount what a privilege it was to help military families, and I started to cry. I hadn't realized just how meaningful it still was to me that I was able to play a small part in our country's freedom, helping our military service people and their families maintain their health. Now I cry every time I hear America The Beautiful, the Star Spangled Banner, or any patriotic song, thankful for all the sacrifices our military service members make so we can have the freedom we have in the USA.
thank you for sharing this, Trish, and for your service, too. i'm so glad it has brought so much meaning to you, and that you in turn have been able to serve so many military families.
No, I don't think that it is what one hopes will happen either, Julie.
Nevertheless, I'm going to finish reading it first.
Upholding the US Constitution!! Wow! That is a BIG deal! I would cry too!
right???
In 2013, the National Archives displayed the Emancipation Proclamation for its 150th anniversary. I went with a friend and we waited patiently for 2.5 hours to get INTO the building, then another 45 minutes to see the faded parchment, barely legible. Oddly, I felt anger that the document wasn't stronger. One hundred fifty years later, I wanted Lincoln to do MORE!, darnit! But then we went to the room where the founding documents are on permanent display and I wept. I still have no idea why I wept at words written by human traffickers but felt anger at one of the first real attempts of equality. My friend, my Stanford senior roommate and a scientist, was amazed at my emotion. Because while I show anger (less frequently now), I rarely cry in public. But just being in the presence of the Fourteenth Amendment broke me. Go on with your bad self, Jules. Do good and defend us from enemies foreign and (more importantly these days) domestic.
yep i so feel ya. when i've had the chance to be in the presence of those old documents, i've teared up, too. it's like can feel the flawed humans hard at work to make things better who had no basis for dreaming of the society we live in now. sometimes i like to think of them traveling forward in time and being escorted through a tour of the America of today by a powerful black woman, say VP Harris, and just feeling their cognitive dissonance around race and gender. i am NOT an originalist!
Surprised by emotion - Just this past Christmas, when my husband and I sat down to a simple dinner alone, and I said grace. As I thanked Jesus for the blessing of His presence on Earth for our benefit, I choked up and tears filled my eyes. That was a complete surprise. I'm not sure what He was telling me, but it got my attention.
"not sure what HE was telling me, but it got my attention." wow. powerful.
So amazing to read about your honest experience!
Thank you.
The real value of authenticity. Thank you for sharing.
What a perfect example. I'll bet they are so grateful for your words.