Tuesday, November 4th.

Today is Election Day in New York City and around the United States. On the way to the subway this morning I observed a significantly long line of New Yorkers waiting in line to vote. I felt encouraged, and not because I will agree with their probable candidate of choice (in this town, my political views are very much in the minority!), but because they were exercising a right that is a beautiful portrayal of our democratic form of government. Or, as Lee Greenwood so eloquently sang, "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me."

I hope if you're able to vote today, you will. I hope you will be encouraged by the sight of your fellow Americans voting in polls across the country. Regardless of who wins the election, I hope you'll remain grateful to be a citizen of a country such as this one-- a grand country, despite economic uncertainty, wars, and taxes.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

America the Beautiful

Words by Katharine Lee Bates