Easter is about a joy that isn’t given.
It is sought.
On the Fourth of July, joy lights up the sky. On Halloween, we knock on doors and ask for it. On Thanksgiving, it is spread out on the table. On Christmas, it is wrapped up and tagged and placed under the tree.
But on Easter, the joy is hidden. You have to want it enough to poke around in the grass and under the leaves of a tulip or beneath a bush. You have to hunt for it.
Easter is bright colors. It’s the sweetness of chocolate and jelly beans. More than anything, it is about rebirth. It is the world waking up to the life of spring after the cold sleep of winter.
We owe Easter a hunt for something more than just hard-boiled eggs.
After an icy stretch in the darkness of bitter rivalry and partisanship, after a season stewing in hatred and violence, we have to decide to seek out something else.
We are drowning in national political intrigue. There is economic anxiety. The divide has reached into state politics, into our municipalities and school districts. It infects our neighborhoods and our dinner tables. It is more than anyone should bear.
We have to find the light of cooperation. We have to uncover the brightness of partnership. We have to ferret out a common purpose.
We must make a choice to hunt for the best tomorrow rather than settle for the ugly and constant clashes that have become our every day.
On this Easter, let’s decide to be better.
Happy Easter to you and yours from all of us at the Trib.