Here are what should be the Nov. 9 remarks of the presidential election winner ("Trumps says he will 'totally accept' election results 'if I win,'" Oct. 20):
"I stand here today both in awe of the history that was created yesterday. And exhausted from waging an internal war our country has rarely experienced.
"Today is not a day to celebrate victory or claim the prize of governing this great nation. It is a day of reflection. It is a day to begin healing. And it's a day to truly recognize that even through strife and anger, through pettiness and derision, America remains the land of immense opportunity and everyone should have a fair and reasonable pursuit of those opportunities.
"The time has come for us to take very serious stock of where we have been, where we are today and where we are going.
"That journey can be even more successful and more rewarding if we take considerable time to re-examine our goals and principles personally and as a nation. Each of us needs to use this time to recharge our individual and collective batteries. By doing so, we can refocus and reframe our energies away from the anger and bitterness. We can heal old wounds that hinder us today from our hopeful future.
"We all value the strength in transparency, but also the time had come for all of us to open our hearts and minds to truly allow ourselves to transcend the seemingly infinitesimal details that stifle our progress. It is so true that the devil is in the details. We must have faith in ourselves, our ambitions and our principles and center our collective energies on constructing our prosperous future, and not be burdened with the minutiae that dominates our country' debate and dialogue.
"We need to allow our actions to speak louder than words and to listen and act more than talk and stand by.
"Life and politics are not sporting events. We cannot continue to keep score of our society's progress in terms of wins and losses.
"While it is necessary to focus on data, it is so much more important to focus on the peace of mind that we have done the right things, versus doing things right.
"We need to be more accountable for the progress we make as a society. Sometimes it takes history to define those successes, not a spreadsheet or a budget. We need to be more concerned about how we lay the foundation for the future instead of how much the bricks cost to build that foundation.
"I believe we all recognize that this will be a challenging journey. That is why I am asking that everyone take a step back, begin to rest, heal and refresh both their mind and their hearts, so that we can one day soon begin this journey together. The journey is for a single purpose — to rebuild trust, trust in our institutions, trust in our people and trust in the very principles and values this country stands for.
"We must switch the fight to be not against one another but to be against the complacency and the bitterness that has symbolized the last several months and years.
"I am reminded of the adage that there are two ways to have the tallest building in the city — one is to tear all the other buildings down and one is to build anew. I am setting forth today that I choose to build the tallest building and not to tear down other buildings to achieve our goals. There is no reason to destroy the beauty and majesty of what our collective world has built. But there is justification to protect and preserve the spectacular beauty our nation offers to this world from our enemies.
"Over the next several weeks, our nation will honor our veterans on Veterans Day and give thanks for our abundance on Thanksgiving. Let's use this time to collectively rest, reflect, restore, and revive our faith in the United States. Thank you."
Peter Shafer, Lutherville