CEO Message: We the People

Say the words out loud: “We the People.”

They are the first three words in the Constitution of the United States of America — the founding document in which the principles and ideals upon which our nation was created are articulated.

It is a document that describes the intentions of “We the People of the United States” to form a “more perfect union” in which the powers of government are granted by the consent of the governed: We the people.

It is the document that articulated the idea that We the People, each of us, are created equal.

Tuesday, Nov. 3, was an election day, the 59th time in our nation’s history that We the People turned out to vote in a presidential election.

Some of us are, no doubt, happy with the results, and others of us are experiencing different emotions. This is no different from the days after election day for all of the prior elections in our nation’s history. And today, as after all elections in the past, We the People are still We the People.

Our understanding of these words has grown and matured over the past 244 years of our nation’s history; the words themselves were sufficient to allow for this maturation of understanding.

We is open and welcoming. It reaches out. It is a word of belonging and inclusion. We embraces and does not create an “other.” It is the word used when expressing our convictions that we are family, we are a team, we will get through this together, we are strong and capable and resilient, we are up to the challenge, we care, and we love.

The People expands on inclusions and doesn’t differentiate by race, gender, religion, country of origin, education, sexual orientation/identity, socioeconomics, age, or any of the myriad of things that make each person unique and valued.

I love how We includes all people. When we put people at the center of our value system, at the center of our ideals and aspirations, we are starting at the right place. We the People centers our lives and our democracy.

Today we celebrate Veterans Day, the day on our annual calendar that honors and celebrates the more than 17 million individuals who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States, protecting our country and our democracy. Dwight David Eisenhower, who served as the Allied commander in chief who helped win the victory in Europe in World War II and then served for two terms as president, spoke eloquently of the We the People bond between those we call veterans and all Americans.

“It is well for us to pause, to acknowledge our debt to those who paid so large a share of freedom’s price,” Eisenhower declared. When “we stand … in grateful remembrance of the veterans’ contributions we renew our conviction of individual responsibility to live in ways that support the eternal truths upon which our Nation is founded, and from which flows all its strength and all its greatness.”

We the People honor our veterans for their service. I take particular pride in speaking for all of our MultiCare team in recognizing and honoring the hundreds of veterans who are on our own “we the people” team. We honor our veterans just as we honor the electoral process of our democracy — with purpose and commitment. Such are the responsibilities, opportunities and distinctive joys of We the People.