There appeared a wide expanse of green grass marked by thousands of individual white marble headstones backed by the beach where they died on D-day. These American soldiers died to protect their country and the humanity of the world from the tyrants threatening that world in 1944.

I wonder what their families and these fallen souls would make of the results of this last election?

The president-elect has said of John McCain, “He’s not a war hero, because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” That the soldiers who died were “losers,” that a wounded warrior in a wheelchair did not make the president-elect “look strong,” and at a D-day ceremony a few years ago he could not take a short car ride to the cemetery because it was raining.

I believe there is a Better Angel in most of us but there is also a dark side inside each of us based on race and gender bias, selfishness and greed. The difference between these two dichotomies are that some folks recognize the dark side and act in a compassionate way to balance out their actions and thoughts.

Some denigrate this manner of action by calling it “woke” or politically correct. I ask, and this is a hard ask for those who supported the president-elect, to take a deep dive into your dark side and find that Better Angel that will reveal the mechanics of that darkness. Even a bigger ask, step out of your echo chamber of disinformation to listen to the reality of the world around you.

For those of you who listen to your Better Angel and not the dark side, do not despair and shrink back to your safe corner. Be angry, be mad, but don’t let hate from your dark side reign. Nothing has ever been accomplished from hate, fear and retreat in the face of a force that seems overwhelming.

John Spezia, Steamboat Springs