FInal Words from John Lewis

John Lewis's entire final essay is inspiring, but this is my favorite part:

Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we call the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.

Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble. Voting and participating in in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.

You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.

I had heard most parts of the essay quoted here and there, but that part about history and solidarity against exploitation around the world, I had not heard.

He was a man who thought wide and kept building, one of the latest survivors of the constantly strong. Respect and rest to him.