To the Journal editor:

I’m excited and hopeful for our country today. Why? Let me start with a personal anecdote. The year was 2020 and it was a star-spangled Saturday. Our household had been in pretty strict quarantine, bearing the pain of restraining our kids from playing with neighborhood friends for several months, out of abundance of caution while we continued to assess a new virus.

That day, we released the kids to play with friends and we celebrated our freedom with kickball, fireworks, and a cookout.

Just prior to the kickball game of no less than 16 kids, my wife and I heard through the window “Oh, say-can you see?” with every single kid singing out, loud and proud-unprompted by any adult. They managed to get all the way to the end of this chorus and I tell you-that last high note was nothing short of deeply inspiring-emoting every bit of the transcendent ideals that our nation was founded on.

We adults worked security during the fireworks and then after the cookout, a political conversation began to emerge. We had the most civil conversation and debate, in spite of the fact that we will likely vote very differently today. We determined that we agreed on much, we just disagreed about how to get there. We each affirmed that serving the “least of these”-the orphan and the widow, the downtrodden and disenfranchised-was of key importance.

One view contended that the government was best suited to fill this role while the other proposed that individuals and non-profits like churches did this best. We found common ground and each remarked how odd it seemed that through the lens of social media, the country seemed ready for a civil war.

Today, a green voter will drop a blue ballot, while a gold will cast red. We will continue being friends and neighbors. How incredible is it that we get to live in a time and place in which our thoughts and votes even matter?

And just as our kids were like buds ready to blossom on Independence Day, so is our country ready to come out of this season with new life and energy.