John,

This is a heartbreaking day. The hurt of too many is inexpressible. The pain and the fear and the grief and anger, and the outrage, and outrage, and outrage. 

And yet, we know: 

This is not a time to curl up, give up or shut up.
It is time to get up; to stand up, to speak up.

It is a time to speak words that heal and help, to speak words that reaffirm our commitment to the cause of our country: the cause of liberty from government oppression, the cause of freedom, the freedom to control our own bodies. 

This ruling is a defeat, but we are not defeated. They delivered their conclusion, but this is not our end. They handed down their decision, but we still claim our right, our power to choose; to choose to fight on; to choose hope over despair; to choose each other and the infinite strength therein. 

We must now choose to heal, to help, to serve those who will be most directly affected by the consequences of a radical decision by their majority that the majority of all Americans firmly disagree with.

They overturned Roe but we shall overcome Dobbs. We will not allow our country to turn back to the dark days of our past. We will organize, galvanize, mobilize, like our ancestors did when they faced such painful and consequential setbacks.  

Our nation has faced horrible decisions before, like Plessy v. Ferguson and like Koramatsu; decisions that trampled on constitutional rights with decisions that were so clearly wrong. And yet our ancestors never descended into despair; they rose up, never gave up, and fought on with new strategies and an old and ever present commitment and conviction to this country’s hope and promise to all. 

We are defined in this moment by how we choose to react – how we face setbacks and suffering; how we rise when knocked down; how we work through fatigue and frustration; how we help others who are impacted most from this decision; how we bring heart despite our hurt; and how we keep summoning grit despite our relentless saturating grief. 

Today is heartbreaking. But we are not broken, we are strong, and we will never give up until this decision is overcome and our cause of freedom is again won. 

Cory