Keep marching.

Progress is possible, not guaranteed.

I didn’t think I would be sending anything out this week, let alone this morning, but here we are.

I’m not here to do a deep-dive analysis or offer a list of solutions. Today, I’m here to simply sit beside you and be.

Last night I went to see SUFFS on Broadway. I saw it three weeks ago with a group from She Should Run — although at this point it could have been three months or three years ago and I wouldn’t know the difference — and was fortunate enough to sit in on a talkback after with some of the cast and creative team. For those who aren’t familiar: SUFFS is a new Broadway musical that centers around the American women's suffrage movement, focusing primarily on unsung heroes of the movement, and the events leading up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

So when my aunt shared she’d be in town this week, wanted to see something on Election Night, and asked my thoughts on SUFFS — it was a hell yes. I knew there was no other way I’d want to spend Election Night.

The audience was unlike anything I have ever experienced in my 38 years of being a theatergoer. EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER got a round of applause. Every poignant line (and there are a lot of poignant lines) met with cheers. Sniffles in the audience, tears from the cast. I saw the director in the lobby before the show, and while I don’t usually approach cast or creative before a show, I went up to her and told her there was no other place I would rather be on that particular night than there in that particular theater.

I have no useful words to say today, so I’m going to share these lyrics with you from the closing song:

The path will be twisted and risky and slow
But keep marching, keep marching
Will you fail or prevail? Well, you may never know
But keep marching, keep marching
'Cause your ancestors are all the proof you need
That progress is possible, not guaranteed
It will only be made if we keep marching, keep marching on

And remember every mother that you came from
Learned as much from our success as our mistakes
Don't forget you're merely one of many others
On the journey every generation makes
We did not end injustice and neither will you
But still, we made strides, so we know you can too
Make peace with our incomplete power and use it for good
'Cause there's so much to do

The gains will feel small and the losses too large
Keep marching, keep marching
You'll rarely agree with whoever's in charge
Keep marching, keep marching
'Cause your ancestors are all the proof you need
That progress is possible, not guaranteed
It will only be made if we keep marching, keep marching on

Yes, the world can be changed, 'cause we've done it before
So keep marching, keep marching
We're always behind you, so bang down the door
And keep marching, keep marching
And let history sound the alarm of how
The future demands that we fight for it now
It will only be ours if we keep marching, keep marching on

We must keep marching, marching, marching
We must keep marching, marching, marching
We must keep marching, marching, marching
We must keep marching, marching, marching
Come on, keep marching, marching, marching
Keep marching on

So today we mourn and feel it all, so it doesn’t come out in ways we don’t intend for it to later on because we decided to “stuff it down” and “power through.”

Today we allow ourselves the process of grief, so that we don’t end up with so much festering hopelessness that we convince ourselves that there’s “nothing we can do.”

Today we acknowledge how hard it is to be hurt and let down by something you believed in.

But tomorrow?

Tomorrow is a new day.

Tomorrow we recommit to being proactive, not reactive.

Tomorrow we recalibrate, refocus, and renew our commitments to one another.

Tomorrow we remember that joy is still strategic, hope is still potent, and progress is possible — not guaranteed. 

It will only be ours if we keep marching on.