Sad and glad

I find myself torn between these emotions — sadness that the DREAM Act could not garner the votes it needed, and happiness/relief that don’t ask, don’t tell has finally been repealed. Once again I’m yearning for Parker Palmer’s new book, the one that at least originally was going to be titled The Politics of the Brokenhearted: Holding Democracy’s Tensions with an Open Heart. How do we do this? How do hold such tensions in ways that draw us forward rather than close us down?