Comic courtesy of I Drew This, a political commentary webcomic.

naruvonwilkins posted this, and I feel compelled to share:

Moving forward

In the last four years, many of us have come to recognize the differences we have. We have based our values on ideas that belong to particular groups, income brackets, religions.

Today, we are heartbroken. We have three branches of government against the beliefs of half the nation. Eleven states have passed horrifying civil rights bills in the name of God. As during the Civil War, we are partisan - brother against brother.

I ask you to forget all that.

Everyone here needs the same things. Clean air, water, and food. A warm home. Medicines to cure our ailments. We all want to be free to say and believe what we want without fear, live without oppression.

I tell you we can have these things, and ensure that they are there for our children's children.

There is no four step plan, no formula. There is not a movie you can watch, or a book you can read. Just think about the way what you do affects the people who walk in your footsteps. Think about what you're leaving behind, not in the big picture, but today.

Right now, our government has put their eyes on a different group of people. It does not well serve those with us on the bus ride to work, next to us in the classroom. Those people, we can affect ourselves.

The biggest things we can do have nothing to do with who is in office. They have to do with how we choose to live.

To those reading who may not know, it is fairly common knowledge that naruvonwilkins and I are enemies of a drastic sort. There's been threats of violence, actual legal measures taken, and so on.

It's a huge blow to my "Ben is an evil stupid bastard" theology, but I just can't avoid respecting him for this. It's encouraging to see that there are some people in this country who can expend time and effort lobbying for what they think is best -- and then, in defeat, simply accept it and move on to the things that are now more important. I don't think I am that much of a man; he is better than me in this regard. In this, he is truly an example for all.