You know who I appreciate?
People who clean public toilets.
Kids who get up early and wait for city buses in the dark to take them to school.
Thrift store shoppers.
Pipeline protesters near and far.
Churches that sponsor refugees. Refugees who learn new languages and navigate new cultures and give up their old dreams for new ones.
The men with brown skin who tore off roofs — and nailed new ones down — all over Lincoln after the hailstorm in May. (Here legally or not.)
Clerks who stand on their feet all day and smile, cooks with bad backs and mortgages, convenience store workers, cops, public defenders, pothole fillers, child-care workers, hotel maids, paper carriers, plumbers, firefighters, farmers.
People are also reading…
You know who I admire?
Public school teachers. Private school teachers. Sunday school teachers. Doctors Without Borders. Parents who work two jobs. People who stand up to bullies. Planned Parenthood.
My ancestors who boarded a ship in Bremen and set sail for America, all their dreams packed in a single suitcase. My friends who joined the Peace Corps and set sail for new lands in the service of humanity.
Native Americans who were here first and got screwed by this country.
Moms and dads and aunties and uncles and grandparents.
Foster parents, couples who adopt, same-sex parents. Child-free couples. Same-sex couples. My transgender friends. My single friends.
Frederick Douglass. Harriet Tubman. MLK. Rosa Parks. W.E.B. Du Bois. Sojourner Truth. Maya Angelou. Every single member of every single minority who gets up every day to greet bias, discrimination, suspicion, judgment and worse based solely on the color of their skin.
You know who else I appreciate?
Novelists. Poets. Reporters. Writers of every stripe.
Readers.
Librarians. Researchers, scientists, nurses, bus riders, bicycle commuters, recyclers.
Bank clerks who hand out dog biscuits. People who wave. Men who see women as equals. Our military, one and all.
Gas station attendants and Girl Scouts. Boy Scouts and booster clubs. Marching bands and Meryl Streep. Mentors. Servant leaders. Unpaid boards, concession stand workers, crisis-line volunteers.
You know what I want?
Strong laws to protect water, air and soil. The same health care my senator gets. The same economy that kept inflation in check and interest rates low.
My tax dollars working.
More parks — city parks, state parks, national parks.
Free speech for everyone — right-to-life walkers, pro-choice marchers, union strikers, Black Lives Matter protesters, Blue Lives Matter admirers, the NRA, the KKK, the NAACP, you and me.
The sanctuary of sports. The escape of movies. The beauty of art. The soul-soothing salve of music.
Politicians with spine. Presidents who don’t call people names. Press secretaries who don’t present alternative facts as the real thing.
You know what else I want?
A Republican who admired Barack Obama and a Democrat who understands the appeal of Donald Trump.
Power to the people. A voice for the disenfranchised. Accountability for our elected officials. Compromise. Kindness. Diplomacy.
The Greater Good. The Golden Rule.
A quiet day.
And a peaceful night’s sleep.