I’m a little late on this reflection post but my hubby and I went on our first cruise to Alaska right after the A to Z ended so this is the first chance I’ve had to think about it. I missed the “official” reflection sign up but I’m going to do it anyway.

My theme for this year was the A to Z of Democracy and I used as a base the speech given by Representative Hakeem Jeffries at the opening of the 218 Congressional Session in 2021. As I usually do, here is a link to all of the posts for the challenge in case you missed any or want to re-read:

Z – Zealous Representation Over Zero Sum Confrontation

Y – Yes We Can Over You Can’t Do It

X – Xenial Over Xenophobia

W – Working Families Over the Well Connected

V – Voting Rights Over Voter Suppression

U – Understanding Over Ugliness

T – Triumph Over Tyranny

S – Substance Over Slander

R – Reason Over Racism

Q – Quality of Life Over QAnon

P – People Over Politics

O – Opportunity Over Obstruction

N – Normalcy Over Negativity

M – Maturity Over Mar-A-Lago

L – Liberty Over Limitation

K – Knowledge Over Kangaroo Court

J – Justice Over Judicial Overreach

I – Inclusion Over Isolation

H – Hopefulness Over Hatred

G – Governing Over Gaslighting

F – Freedom Over Fascism

E – Economic Opportunity Over Extremism

D – Democracy Over Demogogue

C – Constitution Over Cult

B – Benevolence Over Bigotry

A – American Values Over Autocracy

Throughout the challenge I only had two negative commenters. One I sort of expected because I knew the way her feelings leaned from some of her past posts. The other kind of took me by surprise because she insinuated that I was attacking her specifically. My whole point of this project was not to attack anyone, merely to show the differences in thinking between Democrats and Republicans (some, not all) and to highlight specific goals that realistically we should have in common if we are genuinely concerned with our fellow humans and in keeping our constitution alive. There are times to have policy discussions but these things, to me, come down to whether we will be able to remain the United States of America or whether we will become a country with a name that starts with a “T” since he is so into naming everything after himself. Do I dislike the current administration? Intensely. Would I prefer not to engage in conversation with people who try to defend it? Absolutely. But I never meant to attack any one person for their beliefs. Also, even though I said at the top of each post that I would delete negative comments, I kept both of the ones that were left and replied as best I could.

A to Z is not easy to complete and it is definitely not easy to visit everyone on the challenge but I did my best and am grateful that I had as many followers as I did because knowing that there are others out there who think like me give me hope. Next year, if I do it, will probably be back to a lighter theme, especially if we can have a blue tsunami in November.

Stay tuned for a post about our first cruise!