I’ve been basking in the light of a clear blue morning, to borrow words from Dolly Parton.

That’s what last week’s Democratic sweep of the mid-term elections felt like.

For the first time in two terms I felt it was safe to breathe again. Voters more than affirmed the worth of the human person and turned down much of the Trump agenda.

It took a lot of work and money to accomplish that turn. And it felt good for a couple of days. And then, I recognized the work is not over.

In the quest for human rights, you can never stop, turn away, feel too full of victory.

Until she died, I only saw Gloria Steinem as an  emblem of the distant feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. I was not plugged into that in real time, and I so regret that. But I can be plugged in now.

Having just read her book “My Life on the Road, I have come to the awareness that human rights, all of them, are never achieved once, for all. They always require investment of time and energy on behalf of those being ignored or abused.

For those who pursue life, liberty, and justice for all, the work is never done.

The work of civil rights is like a game of  Whac-A-Mole, the classic arcade game where the player, armed with a mallet, tries to smash down all the moles randomly popping up.

Or, to acknowledge the wisdom in the lyrics of Kris Kristofferson, “everybody’s got to have somebody to look down on.”

Vigilance will always be required.

So, yes. I’ve enjoyed the post-election high. Now, it’s time to get back to the battleground. Bring me my mallet…