Once upon a time there was a people who thought that their world could be better. They looked around and were saddened by what they saw. Not knowing what to do, they began, as mankind has begun from the start, by creating something they hoped would be beautiful and useful. Each brought a small amount of gray clay and, together, they fashioned an urn. It was large and empty and not very beautiful. But the people did not let that discourage them. They painted the urn and burnished the urn and began to fill it with ideas they hoped would make the world better. Each person had a little different idea of what those things should be and they sometimes argued. But the urn kept them together. And the urn reminded them of why they were working together — to make the world better. So they added things and removed things and argued and then rejoiced many times as they saw their urn filling up with hopeful things.
With time, the urn took on a patina that made it special — it was different from any other urn and when others tried to replicate it they failed.
And, as is the way with humans, those others became covetous. They looked at the urn and complained that it didn’t contain the right things. They mocked the people. They argued that they knew better. They urged that the urn be dumped out and given to them.
And the people began to feel angry in return. For awhile, they held the urn closer and tried to rebuff the newcomers. But they had spent many years learning how to argue and resolve, how to keep trying to make the urn a good and useful thing. So they said to the newcomers, “Please bring what you want to put in the urn. We will try to find room for some of it, but we also want to keep what we have added over the years. Some of it probably doesn’t work, probably doesn’t make the world good, but much of it has proven its worth. Help us throw out what doesn’t work and then add some of what you bring.”
The newcomers didn’t like that. They railed against the people and insisted that the urn be emptied. they became more and more angry. Finally, they grabbed for the urn, wrenching it from the people. And the urn fell on the ground and shattered in many pieces.
And all the good spilled out and flowed away And there was nothing. Everyone was left with the ideas they had brought, with their way to make the world better, but there was no way to bring those ideas together. And there was no way to bring those people together. And they walked off — each alone.
And that is how I felt at a recent Democratic Central Committee meeting.