State of the Union

What is the Union?

Union is not agreement; it is empathy.

Union is not unison; it is harmony.

Union is not monochrome; it is mosaic.

Union is not an argument; it is a conversation.

Union is not lecturing; it is listening.

Union is not an answer; it is a question.

Union is not winning; it is simply playing.

Union is not seeking war; it is making peace.

Union is not a religion; it is a faith.

Union is not either/or; it is both/and.

Union is not about being right; it is about being conscientious.

Union is not closed; it is open.

Union is not the few with authority; it is the many with agency.

Union is not a location; it is a direction.

Union is not the past; it is in the future.

Union is not an established fact; it is an unfolding story.

Union is not perfect; it is striving to be more perfect.

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”–Abraham Lincoln inaugural address, March 4, 1861