The last few months in Congress have been as contentious as any I have experienced. I know the American people are fed up with congressional gamesmanship. They have had it with the misinformation, false narratives and faux outrage. It seems bipartisan action is a thing of the past. Even civil dialogue has become impossibly rare. These are indeed dark days in the nation’s capital.
But it’s good to remember, we’ve been through worse times. We’ve overcome greater challenges. Keeping things in perspective can help us maintain faith and hope in our future.
In the darkest days of the Civil War, the great poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned the poignant lyrics to the song we know as “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”
In his personal life, Longfellow was grieving the recent death of his wife and despairing the subsequent wounding of his own son in the terrible War Between the States that was then tearing America asunder.
In his pain, Longfellow bowed his head and mourned even more deeply the loss of hope and humanity all around him, writing, “hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men.”
But through his anguish, Longfellow somehow kept faith that better days would come. Resisting permanent gloom, he penned words of hope: “the Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on earth, good-will to men.” Even in his darkest time, he held out hope that America’s best days were still ahead.
In the wake of that horrible Civil War would come an industrial revolution that would transform the country and build the middle class. Goods would become more available and more affordable to more people than ever before in the history of world. The generation after the Civil War would enjoy the benefits of that revolution with an unprecedented prosperity that continued growing decade by decade.
Though the open wound of slavery would take longer to heal in the young nation, even the sons and daughters of former slaves would eventually see brighter days and greater opportunities than if that awful war had never come.
Periods of despair are temporary. Better days always lie ahead.
Periods of despair are temporary. Better days always lie ahead.
Dec. 7, 1941, “a day that will live in infamy,” was another dark day for America. The dawn raid on Pearl Harbor would set in motion events leading to the deaths of over 400,000 of America’s finest. Yet even those dismal days awakened a sleeping giant. An even stronger nation emerged, taking its place as a world leader among all nations. Peace and a post-war boom would lift that darkness and Americans would once again come together.
Looking back, it seems a forgone conclusion that, of course, we would win that war. But as my father, a pilot in WWII, reminded me, “We spent many dark months wondering if victory was possible.”
Ominous clouds gathered again on Nov. 22, 1963. With a Cold War in full swing, the death of America’s young, dynamic president would shake the nation to its foundation. But as that darkness cleared, Republican civil rights supporters found a Democratic partner for their crusade in JFK’s successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, and yet another new day dawned.
Sept. 11, 2001, was one of our darkest days. A shocking terrorist attack here in the homeland killed thousands and would lead to decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. And yet — despite the darkness — we united as a nation during that time and have many times pulled together in its wake.
Though we live in a time of unprecedented prosperity, our political divisions and infighting have left many feeling bereft of hope for a united future. We must remind ourselves of Longfellow’s closing, hopeful refrain: “Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor doth He sleep; the Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on Earth, good-will to men.”
Longfellow was right on Christmas Day, 1863; hope is our heritage. America has always found a way out of the darkness to the better days that lie ahead.
U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart represents Utah’s 2nd Congressional District.