Now What?

That’s the titles of an article in my recent Time Magazine, “NOW WHAT?”

Last week I wasn’t ready for the NOW WHAT… and I know some of my friends still aren’t, and that’s totally okay.  I respect the fact we each have a different timeline for grieving [Trump supporters, please back off, you might think it’s silly to ‘grieve’ a presidency, but it’s real, and explaining it takes a lot of words and this post isn’t about the grief].

 One of my favorite Avett Brothers songs is Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise.  I was talking to R yesterday and wondering what the Avetts felt about this election, pretty much solely because they have a lyric that says: “And your life doesn't change by the man that's elected.”

In processing I’ve thought about this a lot, because in my day to day life, I don’t really feel like my life changes by the elected officials.  But I’m white, and I was born in the USA, and I’m from a middle class family, with an education.  Largely, I think, I haven’t been on the fringe of society, where the elected officials often DO make a difference in your life.

BUT, back to NOW WHAT.

Later on in the Avett song, it says, “Decide what to be and go be it.”

I LOVE this lyric.

The point of response to the election results I’m in right now is this point.  I don’t really believe the election results will change.  I don’t think enough of the electoral college is going to vote for HRC, and even if Donald is impeached, the runner up is Pence, and I don’t think he stands for my beliefs in what I hope for the USA either.

But, as is often the case… when I’m told ‘no’, I look for ways around it, and ways I can turn it into a partial yet, or a negotiation, instead of a hard no.  And this no, I feel like it’s prompting me [and a large part of the USA], into action.  Where we look at our life and decide what to be and go be it.

I haven’t decided how it’s going to look, but before the president-elect get’s sworn in on January 20, 2017, I’ve decided I’m going to take steps to ACTIVELY protect those groups of people whom he has made fun of, stereotyped, talked poorly of, or mistreated.  I’m actively going to give money to organizations promoting peace, and unity, organizations working to HELP the immigrants, the women who have been assaulted, the mentally challenged folk who were made fun of, the minorities which seem to be continually pushed to the side of the white world.  And I’m going to pick some things to show up for/at, in support of what they are doing.  I have opportunities to get involved, and I’m going to use this as a moment to decide what to be and go be it.

Also, Indiana, if you'd like to be involved as well, here's a link to some opportunities: http://www.nuvo.net/gyrobase/blogs/Post?id=Slash&year=2016&month=11&day=09&basename=26-loving-actions-you-can-do-today-to-support-progress-in-indiana

Well, he won, now what…..

I’ve admittedly never been this involved in a presidential election [I even gave money to Bernie Sanders], and Ronald says I’m more emotionally involved in this election than any previously…. but that doesn’t really dull the pain of the extreme and unexpected grief I feel this morning.

Waking up to a Donald presidency is not what I envisioned yesterday morning as I was casting my ballot for the first ever female president of the United States of America.

And until yesterday, I don’t think I emotionally felt what today would feel like.  In either way.  

I spent a few moments yesterday thinking about how tomorrow I might be able to say I voted for the first ever female president.  I was part of a historical moment.

I did not think at all that I would live through a different type of historical moment.  One where an uneducated, historically family rich, business owner, billionaire, who openly made fun of almost every minority ever found in the USA, would be president.

I didn’t fully absorb that possibility.

So now, it’s Wednesday morning after election day, and I’m sad.

I appreciate the posts about hope I’ve found on fb, and I’ve appreciated the words that speak to loving others well, and how we can continue to do that regardless of who the president is.

But this morning I’m sort of not ready for that.

I know and hope I will be… but today I’m just sad… and angry…. and tearing up… and thinking of the people who might be in jeopardy under a president who condones violence, and who doesn’t respect freedom of speech, among many other things that I love love LOVE the United States for.

To end this sad day post, here are some of the fb posts that have most stuck with me and what I would like to comment but refuse to comment on:

“Well maybe I'm the faggot America.

I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.

Now everybody do the propaganda.

And sing along to the age of paranoia.

//

Don't want to be an American idiot.

One nation controlled by the media.

Information age of hysteria.

It's calling out to idiot America.” -Green Day

—->A 2004 song that speaks to much to what happened yesterday.  Fuck.

“He actually won. Get ready Hillary. Think she will end up in a new house too? A jail house? Many said he would not be president. Amazing! If you want to sell your house to move out of the country, please call and let me help you. God chose a new president. As Pence just said, he is grateful to God for His grace and appreciative of president elect Donald Trumps vision n leadership. God bless America. Hillary has conceded too. Amazing. Don't think Trump can actually believe it himself. Think he is truly humbled but ready! Now we can be united TOGETHER! Now we can pray for our new president TOGETHER! Now we can rebuild America with a new dream. With Trump and so many Republicans in house and senate, a new Supreme Court and vision for truth. Winds of change. Why would God choose this way? Sleep well because of Him, not him! YHWH is in control more than we can imagine!” -Arch

—-> “Uhm, so would you still think this if Hillary had won?  Also, do you think people just weren't praying hard enough before Hitler came into power?  Also, you REALLY think we can be united together, when he has continually divided everything that makes the american people the american people? [race, gender, sexuality, difference, where we were born].  Lastly, it sounds like you REALLY believe that republican-ism is going to save the USA.  Sorry for bringing this up, but republicans have continually not shown support to pregnant women, LGBT individuals, poor people, etc.  Jesus showed support and love to all those people.  I think your version of god is much different than the Jesus/God that I love and strive to be like.  I’m not saying the democratic party has all it’s shit together, but I am saying we need different opinions and growth and challenges to grow towards truth and understanding of all people and to love well.

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

-Abraham Lincoln

—->*grimace*…. oh boy.

“As I fade in and out of sleep, I am reminded of something I read a while back. This pendulum shift is not uncommon. After times of great achievement for minorities comes times of great oppression from the majority due to fear that a minority will "take over" the county. A prominent example is immediately following the signing of the emancipation proclamation and the reconstruction. Reconstruction was a period when Black men entered the political process and held local and federal political seats in former slave holding states (e.g. Wilmington, NC). When white "rebels" couldn't deal with this, they literally murdered hundreds of people and burned down a port city in North Carolina. Then they pushed for Jim Crow laws which were successful. After decades of systematic disenfranchisement black people pushed back hard enough to undo a tragic period in our history.

The moral of the story is, we knew this could happen. The key is to push back hard and quickly. America has shown you who she is. If you are not a wealthy white male, she just may not give an eff about you. So...PUSH BACK! A lost battle is not a lost war.”

——>Okay, I’m almost ready to pull up my big girl panties and get to work.  The job seems SO much bigger, and harder, and more necessary than it was before this morning.  Tomorrow I will choose to wake up and fight.  I will choose to look out for my minority brothers and sisters, in the grocery store, in church, in my neighborhood.  I will choose to step up and defend the poor, and the weak, and the struggling.  Tomorrow I will find more ways to get involved and love people better than today.  Tomorrow I will refuse to let the bully push me or other folks that aren’t white, heterosexual, males around.  Tomorrow I will be part of the USA who I love and admire and look up to.

Today: Yoga and no more social media.

-mrp-