—
Okay, this didn’t go the way we wanted. OK, we have kids who don’t understand. OK, we have grownups who don’t comprehend the gravity of this election. How it concerned civil rights. how the ugly underbelly was whipped into a lather around us, horrifying us…shocking us.
BUT LISTEN.
One of the reasons we are not getting through is because we are not working together. We are not listening to each other. Because we did not look openly at the corruption, and take seriously enough, the fact that America was going to fight back one day…even when the choice meant THIS. THIS is how fed up the people are.
AND.
The celebration taking place (in my experience, doesn’t involve maliciousness [athought there exists a smaller disgusting core]…and this gives me hope). It involves the fact that people don’t accept there is a problem with othering, systemic racism, white privilege, xenophobia, LGBTQ and disabled persons’ rights among other issues. And when a problem is not acknowledged, the solutions, the urgent need to resolve it before ruin, cannot be heard.
We have to work together. Or we can leave.
Those are our choices and if we listen, we will hear some grueling truths, but we HAVE to hear these truths for our America to improve.
We HAVE to go there.
And we can’t do it through anger. Anger is useful as a channel to establish boundaries, but caving into its primal nature is destructive. We need to have meaningful conversations now. We need to accept our party was not spotless. That we held up a candidate who participated in enough unsavory and suspicious events to savagely tear away at her reputation. We need to examine our choices and ourselves as we move forward and we need to keep speaking.
EVEN THOUGH nothing was proven against her, even though she lost to a blatant extremist, it was not enough to silence the majority who have had enough. Trump’s appalling behavior was not enough to stop his win. Ruminate on that a minute. We cannot have our perfect society just the way we want.
We were told we are too left, and we have to compromise.
Umbrage is not helping here.
NO ONE is going to listen when they are screamed at. I had a friend who used to say that men can be better reached through sadness versus anger. If we take the “male” part out of the equation, it applies. Listening to each other and expressing the feelings we own without projecting suppositions and verbal abuse is what we are charged with now if we are to bulldoze through barriers and retain our right to love, to accept, to thrive in our pretty-great-fixer-upper-America.
Trump has limited power. Read about his official duties. Worry more about the red representing us across the board now and then, just as you got out the vote in the last several weeks—and we did, too. I stood in line as I lost feeling in my left leg about seven minutes into it, and I Quasimoed my ass to the ballot anyway due to my chronic illness—do it again in the micro-elections. Add your voice to your causes. Speak out on the Dakota Water Pipeline protest. Oppose laws which strip people of their rights. Educate on WHY change is imperative, but stop shrieking and expecting you will be heard or respected.When we lose people, we lose the chance to reach them and to impart the critical need to move them to empathy.
We will be shut out if we surrender to anger. This election will require our inner growth and introspection to get through. Our absolute steel mettle to survive.
If we can take anything away today, it’s this: the revolution is real. And this is good news because it means our voice still has power. So, use it. So, speak up. So, influence your local government. So, use it to safeguard your reproductive rights (fun fact: I would not have an abortion, but I do support the right for others to choose—isn’t this the aim? I am not you, you are not me…but let us be and have our rights as we live our individual lives.)
It is going to be okay, and we are the only ones who can make sure of that.
I am going to do my part to work with The Good Men Project on their Social Justice task forces. I encourage you to do the same or to find another organization where you can help to affect change and to uphold our human rights.
Go forth in love, for it is far more persuasive than hate. Find hope to cling to and use it to propel your purpose.
I believe in us. This is our America. We have to hang tough now and get to work. We are powerful enough to continue to send ripples into the world. To restore hope through action.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
This is such a sad and misdirected post. As I ask all of my gay friends – why are you giving the power to government to take away your rights in the first place? There is no equanimity in your thoughts. There is no power in constantly playing a victim. Equal rights are inane so that by continuing special interest politics you create mob rule or what others call democracy. I don’t like trump any more than the next Guy but this was and election for honesty and reality as opposed to politics as usual. Let’s be thankful we live… Read more »
The greatest lesson the progressive left can learn from this extremely unique and surprising election, has been largely lost on them. Including the author, I’d suggest. The so called “ugly underbelly” of America did not play a significant role in the support for Trump. In fact it was the far left obsession with accusing, bullying, generalizing, and dividing in the name of all the big “isms” that kept them from seeing where the real battle of the election was being fought and decided. No, the “isms” as I call them are not to be taken lightly or swept under the… Read more »
Well stated Chad.
Thank you Chad. Not for your position but for your reason. Makes sense.
“It’s time to use your voice and let people know we will not go backwards, we will not go gently into that dark night. We will dissect the truth and progress once again because there is no other choice for our precious America.” We are moving ahead, just not in the way the extremist left decided we should… and that is coming from a life long demoncrat. We’re tired of what our party has become, how it was shop-lifted out from under us, and we want it back. We are taking it back, and we are reaching across the isle… Read more »
What’s left out of all of this is that many of the “red” were at one time “blue.” It’s time to self evaluate why the election went the way it did. A lot of talk about why some Republicans walked away from their party but little to nothing as to why Democrats walked away. Lot of talk about why some Republicans refused to vote but little to nothing as to why Democrats did the same. The Democrats were so hell bent on trashing and trying to destroy Trump, they neglected to hear what Democrats were saying about Hillary.
You are exactly right, Tom. As you know, I’m a democrat, but there are many of us that are just plain tired of the nonsense, the hysteria, and want something better. I’ll be the first to admit that I was hesitant to cast my vote for Trump, but like many, what choice did I have? I took a leap of faith, but I had fears. Those fears were alleviated when, at almost 3:30 am I listened to his victory speech and saw the man, the president I’d hoped he would become. Tore off the rear view mirror. I know look… Read more »