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bill passed with unanimous support, a credit to Speaker Ralston and other leaders who stayed the course.

This demonstrates that good legislation can still happen when there is political good will on all sides, when people listen well, especially to the sufferers and their advocates, and when we remain focused and refuse to be drawn in by conspiracy theories and a culture war mentality.

If we will, then it can do all of us good just to be met with so fine and competent a fellow citizen as Justiceelect Jackson. We can be proud here for our country, proud again of our democratic ideals. And just so, there is something so right in our coming together to recognize the vital importance of mental health, and insisting that this needs the collective action of a caring society. There is so much promise in both these instances. … When we lay down our arms and lean in here, we find ourselves in a new place, the place of our common humanity. A place where there is room, room for all the pathos and promise of our human condition to be admitted. A place where the courage and beauty we are capable of can be nourished, where hope blooms and Joy will find herself at home.

“Love and fidelity embrace, peace and justice kiss. Fidelity sprouts from the earth, justice leans down from heaven … Turn, Lord, revive us. Nourish our joy.” Steve Bullington Adrian, Georgia