Scrolling through our Facebook feeds on weekend mornings to catch up with news, personal or national or global, is something that almost all millennials do when we first wake up. Perhaps this is the new newspaper, or perhaps we are too lazy to get out of bed. I’ll leave that up in the air, but it’s definitely something to think about.

What I stopped to think about on one Saturday morning was this post that I found on one of my uber-liberal Facebook friends’ page, showing devout-Catholic, democratic congressman from Massachusetts Joe Kennedy with his wife and baby at a pro-choice (“pro-abortion”) rally.

Checking the comments, it’s a mix of two primary responses. It’s either Catholics or conservatives complaining that one cannot be religious—or a decent human being—but also support abortion, or it is politically and religiously unidentified commenters being sure to note that this is a planned parenthood rally, not an abortion rally, and that having children and supporting other people’s choice are not mutually exclusive actions.

This got me quite curious about who this politician is, so, like most millennials, I turned to Google.

It turns out, this Joe Kennedy also gave the rebuttal speech for President Trump’s State of the Union address at the end of January 2018. Once again, my curiosity was spiked, and I clicked on the transcript for his speech.

*Spoiler alert, I was in tears about halfway in.*

Representative Kennedy spoke to the turmoil and push and pull our nation has fallen into over the past year under the new administration. He encourages listeners to keep holding on, to stay hopeful, and to remind ourselves of the American ideals that we all value, and that is something that National Catholic Reporter calls “the Christian response.”

“Many have spent the past year anxious, angry, afraid. We all feel the fault lines of a fractured country. We hear the voices of Americans who feel forgotten and forsaken,” Kennedy said.

I remember the day after the election, my hippie-liberal college town (also an in-the-middle-of-nowhere, tiny, southern mountain town, mind you) was wracked with anxiety and sadness, fearful of what was to come. Classes were cancelled, nobody knew what to say, but what was done had been done.

“[We see] a Justice Department rolling back civil rights by the day. [We see] hatred and supremacy proudly marching in our streets. [We see] bullets tearing through our classrooms, concerts, and congregations. Targeting our most sacred places. And that nagging, sinking feeling, no matter your political beliefs: this is not right. This is not who we are.”

He is right. This is not who we are, or at least not what I thought we were. I thought that we, as a nation, had started in the right direction for LGBTQ+ Americans with the legalization of gay marriage, but then our own President wanted to prohibit transgender service members from protecting our “great” nation.

We have people angry about school shootings, but some of the same people who refuse to support gun control.

We have some people praising each action of our President, and others fearful of what he may say next, that it might strip them of their right to live in the States or their right to express their sexuality, or, sadly, their right to healthcare.

“This administration isn’t just targeting the laws that protect us—they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection. For them, dignity isn’t something you’re born with but something you measure. By your net worth, your celebrity, your headlines, your crowd size.

“Not to mention, the gender of your spouse. The country of your birth. The color of your skin. The God of your prayers.”

Does the statement “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” ring any bells? No? Just me? Okay.

“Their record is a rebuke of our highest American ideal: the belief that we are all worthy, we are all equal, and we all count. In the eyes of our law and our leaders, our God and our government.”

Haven’t we fought for centuries and decades for these things? There was that one Civil War, you know, and then the whole Civil Rights Movement... and the suffrage thing in the early 1900’s. Oh, and of course all of those gay pride parades, the women’s marches, the Black Lives Matter movement, etc., that are still happening today.

“We are bombarded with one false choice after another: Coal miners or single moms. Rural communities or inner cities. The coast or the heartland. As if the mechanic in Pittsburgh and the teacher in Tulsa and the daycare worker in Birmingham are somehow bitter rivals, rather than mutual casualties of a system forcefully rigged for those at the top.

“As if the parent who lies awake terrified that their transgender son will be beaten and bullied at school is any more or less legitimate than the parent whose heart is shattered by a daughter in the grips of opioid addiction.”

I wanted to start clapping for him right here. There is no single most important issue plaguing our nation, and none of them is any less or more horrific than the others, but they are all significant epidemics that need to be remedied in the near future. Instead of pitting against each other in our struggles, we need to acknowledge that all struggles are just that: struggles. Legitimate struggles that we are all fighting each and every day.

“So here is the answer Democrats offer tonight: we choose both. We fight for both. Because the strongest, richest, greatest nation in the world shouldn’t leave anyone behind.”

Can I get a “hell yeah”?

“We choose a better deal for all who call this country home.”

“We choose the living wage, paid leave, and affordable childcare your family needs to survive.”

“We choose a health care system that offers mercy whether you suffer from cancer or depression or addiction.”

What is a homeland if it doesn’t help you to survive, or at least make it feasible for you to survive? Recognize that aliving wage is something a lot of jobs lack, just as inadequate care for mental illness is easy to come by, and cancer is still left uncured.

“And to all the Dreamers watching tonight, let me be clear: Ustedes son parte de nuestra historia. Vamos a luchar por ustedes y no nos vamos alejar.”

While not all Dreamers necessarily are of Latin-American descent, nor do all of them necessarily speak Spanish, this is a powerful statement in itself, not only to Dreamers, but to all immigrant families. One, you’re part of our history. Two, we are going to fight for you and not stop. Three, we are going to speak your languages, or at least try to.

“You bravely say, me too. You steadfastly say, black lives matter.

“You wade through flood waters, battle hurricanes, and brave wildfires and mudslides to save a stranger.

“You fight your own quiet battles every single day.”

For the first time in a long time, while reading this speech, I have become less afraid of my own country. I have started to feel, dare I say, proud to be an American, where at least I know someone in my government hears the cries of the people.

“Bullies may land a punch. They might leave a mark. But they have never, not once, in the history of our United States, managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defense of their future.”

And here I was, a few paragraphs ago, citing fights that the people have fought in defense of the futures of their kin, the abolistionists and the suffragettes. Here I am now, thinking that maybe our nation won’t go down the toilet, because this is the man the Democrats selected as their SOTU speaker, and this is the representative of the hopeful future.

“Politicians can be cheered for the promises they make. Our country will be judged by the promises we keep. That is the measure of our character. That’s who we are. Out of many, one.

“Ladies and gentlemen, have faith: the state of our union is hopeful, resilient, enduring.”

For the past year, since the results of the 2016 election, I have been steering clear of the politics section of newspapers/news broadcasts, because I cannot stand the idea that our administration could actually do the exact opposite of the campaign the President Trump so proudly advertised. To make America racist, supremacist, and egotistical again.

There are still a few years left in President Trump’s initial term, and there is no telling what that may bring. But the State of the Union Rebuttal given by Democratic Representative Joe Kennedy inspires me to remain hopeful, resilient, and enduring.