The unthinkable happened. And it is a very dark and disturbing morning in America.

Donald Trump accomplished what many said he couldn’t, and many more hoped he wouldn’t. But he did win — he will be this nation’s 45th President — and now we have to begin figuring out what is next and how we can get along with a man we hoped we would never have to get along with. At stake is merely the future of American democracy, so the goal is hardly less important than the challenge of getting there.

It’s way too soon to collect the answers. We will wait and see how Donald Trump handles his triumph. His first responses have been at least somewhat encouraging in calls for unity and praise for the defeated Hillary Clinton. But will that stick? Is there more to Trump’s ideas and beliefs than we have been led to believe by the candidate’s own words?

Let’s us hope. And pray. Pray for some kind of end to the divisions that have become so awful. Pray that what we have been delivered will prove in some way worthy.

Tall tasks. Formidable tasks. But there is no other choice now.