Last night in our Maine Elders Project group, on the eve of this historic election, we watched a fascinating interview with Dr. Maya Angelou, the African-American educator, poet, writer, activist, and keeper of the wisdom of her grandmother and mother. This felt like right action; it was the right thing to do to honor an elder born of the struggles of African-American people to stand equal with their brothers and sisters of other racial and ethnic lineages. And, in this interview, she spoke about how we all carry in our hearts one universal story: food for our children, a place to sleep at night, safe streets to walk, a job so we can use our gifts in the service of something greater than us, neighbors we care for and are cared for in return.

Later in the evening, I watched the large crowd gathered in Grant Park in Chicago to await the results of the Presidential election. In that crowd I saw men and women of all races and backgrounds standing side by side, and arm in arm. I saw Oprah Winfrey standing in the crowd, no particular attention drawn to her, just one of many weeping Americans. I thought about how it was when I was born, that even that short time ago, a gathering of this kind was not possible. I thought about the night in 1968, when I was a nursing school student in Boston and Martin Luther King, Jr., laid down his life for the promise of the moment I was witnessing now.

As a country, we have all lived through a sea change. We stand on the edge of a great moment in history. We are the people our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will look back on and speak of, hopefully with pride. I imagine they will say, "When the call came, my grandparents answered. When the need to rise up was clear, my mother/father/grandmother/grandfather took his or her place. When the world turned, my mother and father helped to turn it."

The world has turned this day. The victory is more than a victory for the United States, but for the world. Those of us whose hearts rejoice are precisely the ones who are asked to reach out today to a neighbor who is not rejoicing. Take a hand. Give a hug. Promise them that we will include them in our forward movement, for we must not forget anyone. This sea change is meant for everyone.

The choice was laid out for us: fear or hope. And we claimed hope. Long into the future, it will be said that we claimed hope over fear, and that has made all the difference.