While I join the millions of citizens who celebrate his well-earned defeat, I believe we are all indebted to President Donald Trump for highlighting those issues that now challenge the U.S. and the world, though I doubt this was his intent.

By casting doubts about the integrity of our political institutions, he has forced spirited examinations of the meaning of truth, justice and what it means to be a citizen. Because of him, we did not take our right to vote for granted this time, but instead used that right to oust him and his corrupt administration. We have seen how government officials at the local and state levels excelled at performing the tedious work of conducting elections, crushing his fraudulent claims about the “rigged” vote.

As a former social studies teacher, I appreciate how the civics lessons we saw play out in the weeks after the election have helped us understand, in real time, how our democracy is supposed to work. We owe this to him.

By attacking scientists and other health experts, he has helped prove how devastating to human lives the denial of science can be. COVID-19 cases are spiking in our third wave, in part because he encouraged his followers and others to ignore protocols and disregard safety recommendations, posing greater risks for millions more. We now know that, unless we begin to address the pandemic with a nationwide, science-driven strategy, hundreds of thousands more will likely die. This was probably not his intent, but at least we now can begin to chart a course for a safer future someday, thanks to him.

By stoking the flames of racial division over his entire public life, and in a more focused way during his one term in office, he has helped us recognize our biases, investigate more deeply the roots of white supremacy, and come to a better understanding of the brutal consequences of 400 years of injustices to Indigenous and Black populations. Again, this was probably not his goal, but we can thank him for reopening those wounds so we can now think about possible remedies.

By constantly attacking the press and the “fake news” media, he has clarified the real value of our First Amendment guarantee of a free press, which exposed the corruption in his administration.

His continuing assault on our collective values of decency, empathy and concern for the common good impedes our progress toward the creation of a more perfect union — with justice established and the blessings of liberty secured. Thanks to him, we now have a clearer picture of the hard work it will take to achieve that goal of a better world for all citizens.

And finally, by his challenging the assumptions that have made the U.S. the leader of the Free World and a beacon of democracy since the 19th century, we now will have to prove to the rest of the world that we are, once again, worthy of that leadership role — a big but necessary challenge we must undertake to ensure peace and prosperity, and to address the disastrous impacts of climate change.

While millions of us are thrilled to see Trump leave office, many of us also want to pause to thank him for his legacy. We desperately needed those wake-up calls.

Dana Cole-Levesque, of Bethel, is a retired school superintendent who served as Vermont’s commissioner of labor and industry in the administrations of Govs. Richard Snelling and Howard Dean.