We Can

I passed this wry mural in Chicago, around the corner from a nifty
little coffee place/donut shop. Looking at the photo today, I smiled
at Rosie the Riveter, not because the shop had her hawking donuts,
but I was thinking of the convening of the 113th U.S. Congress this week
and the 100 women who are members, the most ever.

Rosie came to represent all the women who walked into workplaces they
hadn't necessarily been before, at least in those numbers back during
World War II. They were women who had to roll up their sleeves, learn a new
trade and, for many, a new way of life. Their rallying cry? "We can do it!"
and they did.

I wonder about the 20 female senators and 80 members of
the House of Representatives in our newly seated Congress.
Will "we can do it" be the phrase that defines them? We can...move forward,
make change, begin to solve some of our nation's most challenging problems?

What I'd hope for is a slightly different mantra, something like
we can try together.