A reminder: 'We the People' are a motley crew

(First published as a community column in The Huntsville Times on July 13, 2008)

I peered through the protective glass at the yellowed parchment and tried to discern the ancient calligraphy, now faded from years of light and exposure. The words were faint, but I strained harder until they finally came into focus: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union...”

As I stared at the Preamble to our Constitution recently, I realized that “we the people” are not perfect and neither is our union. But that hasn’t stopped us from trying to make it “more” so, nor does it appear that we’ll be giving up any time soon.

My wife and I strolled down the broad, expansive avenues of Washington, D.C., and stood at the national memorials, reading the words of sacrifice, promise and hope. We watched workers, busy as bees in a hive of democracy, carry on the difficult work of keeping this lumbering, stumbling, sometimes bumbling behemoth of a country lurching forward into the future.

As we rode the trolley and hit the highlights, we noticed something else too: “We the people” are a motley and colorful crew.

“We” are the congressional aides, lawyers (lots of those), hotel workers, nannies, housekeepers, construction workers, museum docents and university students who descended together into subterranean tunnels and boarded the Metro trains - one nation, underground, with standing room only for all.

“We” are the urban hipsters, Latino families with young children and pale-legged tourists in khaki shorts who mixed and mingled on Mt. Pleasant Street on a sunny June Sunday, variegated cultures bumping together, blending and bonding into a stronger whole.

“We” are a Maryland-born WASP named Chris and a Southern California-bred Japanese-Filipino named Suzanne. My wife and I were privileged to be among many other guests from near and far who watched the couple exchange their wedding vows.

People like the beautiful and classy Dr. Jane Fall-Dickson, a clinical investigator at the National Institutes of Health, who, with her grace and infectious humor, celebrated her friends’ new life together even as she braced herself for the second anniversary of her cancer researcher-husband’s sudden death.

And Father Ray East, African American Catholic priest, pastor of an inner city parish and a cherished counselor to scores of suffering AIDS patients throughout the D.C. area.

He delivered the homily then surprised the wedding party and guests by singing a rousing and rhythmic Hebrew song of celebration and then leading us all in another - “Bless This Family” sung to the tune of “Edelweiss.”

Cmdr. Marquez Campbell and his lovely wife, Maricela, one of the bride’s best friends growing up, traveled all the way from San Diego. Marquez, a 25-year Navy veteran, described to me what it was like to sail on the hospital ship USNS Mercy and to be one of the first on the scene after the Indonesian tsunami in 2005.

“Projecting ’soft power’ is a good thing in this day and age,” he said.

I couldn’t have agreed more.

They, and many other new friends, smothered us in hospitality - apparently the Deep South hasn’t completely cornered that particular market. Neither is our fervent, Southern-fried recipe for patriotism, as tasty as it can be when it’s done right, the only item on the menu.

“We” Southerners are one brick in a great wall, one thread among many in a strong, diverse and colorful garment. Maybe it’s time we got past some of our provincial prejudices, looked beyond the Mason-Dixon Line and gave the rest of the country a little more credit.

To us, this joyous wedding celebration seemed symbolic of the hope and promise of “a more perfect union” writ large across the land. If Chris and Suzanne can jump in and try to make it work, then what’s stopping the rest of us from doing the same thing?

Chris and Suzanne got hitched, and we left D.C. feeling more invested in and proud of our country.

“We the people of the United States…”

The letters may have faded, but the hopes and dreams shaped by them seemed bolder than ever.

©2008 Dr. Michael Brown/20/40-Something. All Rights Reserved.