The thing I love about America can be summed up by our Nation's Motto: E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, One.

The standard definition of this phrase references the unity of the states under the federal system; literally many states making up one.

But this motto has evolved and taken on a new meaning to me and (I think) many others. The evolution stems from a question I think about a lot: Could the founding fathers have ever imagined the level of diversity currently at work in the modern United States?

We are so different in this country. Life style, economic standing, ancestry. There are a thousand ways to dissect the populace. Speaking to the last point, the ancestral make up of America is astounding. With the exception of Natives, we are all immigrants here. All the peoples of the world have converged here, in this place. Some came by choice, others had no say in the matter. But for whatever reason, here we all are. We are many.

But we are also one. Even with the vast differences between us, there is still far more that unites us than divides. And when we come together, we are more than the sum of our parts.

Even still, the meaning of E Pluribus Unum is evolving yet again, reminding us that the American conscience is not static. We are experiencing a level of interconnectedness unprecedented in human history. Technology, as never before, is bringing us together. Old Friends, Strangers, Ideas, Opposing View Points, are all meeting each other on the expanding plane of the internet, or through face to face interaction made possible by so many new technologies working together. Just as all the people of the world have converged at this place, so are we just now understanding and exploring what that convergence means.

I'm reminded of an old tradition that takes place at Workcamps. The participants come from all walks of life, all denominations, and they converge in one town. Hundreds become one. Throughout the week, they work together with people they had never met before the start of camp. They start to discover their "one-ness." And they do amazing things. Not only through the physical work, but also in the simple act of working together, in showing, in a literal way, that even with our divisions, we are still one. One Body, One Church. At the end of the week, as we look back, there is a moment in the program where we have a slideshow of all the residents whose homes were worked on. As they see them, the crew that worked on that house stands, without recognition, and starts to sing a simple repeated refrain: Alleluia. This continues until the entire group is standing and singing, as one. The line in the program after this moment has been used for years, and even though I've heard it dozens of times, it still strikes a chord with me.

"When we sing alone, we're just one voice. But when we join together, our voices form a mighty wave of praise that the whole world hears. The people of this community have heard your songs, and will never forget your singing."


I bring all of this up now because it's Election Day. Because today is the day that Americans stand up and start singing. And out of many voices singing, there comes one song. We don't all sing the same pitches, but that makes the harmony that much sweeter.

It's a song I hope continues.