President-elect Joe Biden referred to the well-known passages of scripture in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes during his victory speech when he said that there is a time to build, reap, sow and heal, and now is "the time to heal." It was the resounding message he believed the 77 million who cast their votes for him and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris wanted the country to hear. Biden is preparing his administration even though his transition may be delayed through President Donald Trump's legal challenges in Georgia, where a recount has been announced, and in Michigan, where Trump's lawyers are attempting to block the Wolverine state from certifying its election results.

Biden would do well to apply King Solomon's nuggets of wisdom found in Ecclesiastes: All in life is folly and vanity without a relationship with God. Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes late in his life, when the magnificent era of his rule over a united Israel was nearing its end. Biden, who at 77 is the oldest president to be elected in U.S. history, has the daunting task of trying to unite a country divided at its core.

In the long, arduous process of beginning to build, reap, sow and heal, Biden pleaded for us to stop viewing our fellow citizens with opposing partisan convictions as our enemies. "Let's give each other a chance," he urged the crowd cheering him on in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. "It's time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again." This was about as straightforward an olive branch as Biden could have offered.

However, it's going to take much more than well-intentioned words to erase the polarizing lines that have been drawn in the sand dividing us over social justice, as well as health care, poverty and education disparities. These are all issues that the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated. Many of us have been so focused on our personal challenges that we have failed to really try to understand the other side. I thought about this while watching recent episodes of "Black-ish" and "The Conners," two sitcoms that I will be using in my TV diversity course for the spring 2021 semester at Ohio State University at Lima.

In the "Black-ish" episode "Age Against the Machine," Junior, the second-oldest child of the Johnson family, squares off against his father, Dre, regarding social activism. It's a clash between Generation Z and Generation X as Junior accuses his father, who made it out of Compton, California, to become a thriving advertising executive, of now being "the man" who is afraid to march and protest because he has too much to lose. Junior posts a video on Instagram calling for defunding the police and rejects his father's proposal to have the advertising firm they both work for invest in business startups in the African American community. Junior basically sees his father's idea as an establishment tactic, but he eventually has a change of heart.

In the episode of "The Conners" titled "Keep on Truckin' Six Feet Apart," Dan Conner is served an eviction notice. He pushes himself and works to the point of dangerous physical exhaustion so that his family does not become homeless. The economic impact of COVID-19 has a devastating domino effect on the Conners as Dan's daughters, Darlene and Becky, end up working in a plastics factory. They bemoan the fact that they are low-wage earners in their 40s. Darlene is crushed because her dream of having a writing career ends bitterly. Becky is struggling to raise her toddler daughter while living in her father's basement.

The Conners have often been labeled as a fictional representation of white, Midwestern Trump supporters. "Black-ish" represents the upscale black family with progressive views. After watching these episodes, I wondered: Could Dre have a meaningful conversation with Dan? Would Junior understand the working-class hardships of Darlene and Becky, something his father's success has shielded him from? This is the type of dialogue that needs to begin in this country, the way to "lower the temperature" that Biden advocated. We will need more than one term to get us even close to an amicable place. Another scripture to practice during this intense time is Philippians 2:4, which tells us not to look solely to our own interests but "every man also on the things of others."

Dr. Jessica A. Johnson is a lecturer in the English department at Ohio State University's Lima campus. Email her at smojc.jj@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JjSmojc. To find out more about Jessica Johnson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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