Our country needs a moment of pause. A moment to reflect, reconnect, and remember what holds us together.

In 1958, John F. Kennedy spoke on the floor of the United States Senate and described what he believed to be a defining trait of the American character. “The American by nature is optimistic,” he said, “an inventor who builds best when called upon to build greatly.” Arouse his will to believe in himself and give him a goal to believe in, and he will create the means to reach it.” Kennedy called this optimism our greatest national asset and urged that it be rescued from complacency and discouragement. He reminded the nation that we are a people who voluntarily assume both the burden and the glory of advancing mankind’s best hopes.

Today, a narrative is emerging that ours is a dark and divided moment. Governance feels strained. Our language is polarized. Our commitment to E Pluribus Unum, out of many, one, can seem fragile. Yet we need not accept a legacy of pessimism. We the people have always faced our challenges with courage and confidence. We have always worked to make democracy work.

As historian David McCullough reminded us, history matters. We should live and work like someone coming over the top of a hill, singing. And as Walt Whitman wrote in Song of Myself, “Swiftly I rose and spread around me the peace and knowledge that pass all the argument of the earth.” He declared that the hand of God is the promise of our own, that all men and women are our brothers and sisters, and that the keystone of creation is love.

Over the top of the hill we go and we go singing.

This is Jim Copple for The Legacy Project.