It Feels like Brexit — on Steroids . . .
I'm not sure how to move forward at this moment. It seems impossible to me, but Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States of America.
I am afraid for my LGBT friends. And I am afraid for my friends and family who rely on the Affordable Care Act. And I am afraid for every woman who stands to lose the right to choose. And I am afraid for Muslim Americans. And I am afraid that the separation of church and state — so vital to our very existence as a nation — is about to be blurred and smudged, possibly leaving us with a theocratic government . . . like Afghanistan, and Iran, and Sudan, and Yemen, and Saudi Arabia. And I am afraid for those of us who had a hope of retiring in the next 5-10 years, because who knows what the market is going to do when it opens this morning.
So, yeah, I'm afraid, but mostly I find that I have a deep, deep sadness in my heart to find that, after all, my country would rather have someone I perceive to be an unqualified, misogynist, racist, hate-spewing schoolyard bully, than a woman. Plain and simple, and unutterably sad.
The Canadian immigration website crashed last night because so many people are looking to run away, but I don't think running away is the answer. I'm sad, and I'm fearful, and the next four years of all our lives are suddenly looking very different than they did yesterday, but I don't think that running away is the answer.
Even though I feel fear and sadness, I do not choose to live that way over the long haul. That's not what my mother taught me. Now is the time to stand up for everything I still believe in. We survived eight years of Bush and Cheney, and somehow I believe we will survive Trump and Pence.
Still, I struggle to find something to be thankful for this morning, all the time knowing that I am so very lucky to be who I am and where I am. It's this:
I am thankful that this election is over.
I was reading Coach Aruni's blog yesterday where she talked about listening to Abbey Road to get through the final days of this election. She talks about three cuts: Come Together, Here Comes the Sun, and The End. We do have to find a way to come together as a nation after all the hatred our President-Elect spewed for the past 18 months, and I have to trust that — somehow — it will be alright. In my own heart I know that to move forward it has to be about love, not hate and fear.
I will be listening to Abbey Road all day today, I think. It's always been one of my favorites, particularly the ending medley, so I will leave you with their ending words which are and always have been a mantra for my life:
And in the end,
The love you take,
Is equal to the love you make.
Comments
Ultimately some of our country, our home seems to have confused false, ugly, mean bravado with maverick behavior suited for change. I hope his tenure does not break our country, but my comforting thought is to not despair- this too shall pass.
Maybe change will take a different form as people are energized to question and oppose a system that doesn't work for them. I hope people become revolutionaries, begin to speak out in a positive way, so that we can get through this darkness.
And like Mexico is really going to pay to build a wall along the border. He's delusional.
He lacks sophistication, maturity, diplomacy, knowledge and caring about the American people. I do believe we have a right to be fearful of what the next 4 years may bring. I can only hope that he will be impeached.