Yesterday, I wrote a post on my personal blog (which I haven’t used in years) about my feelings on finding out the results of the presidential election and I find I have more to say to a wider audience after seeing various newscasts, blogs, Facebook posts and the like.
For those protesting: I understand, I sympathize and like you, I grieve. I’m angry, too. But the hard truth is, the election is over. The thought of returning to white heterosexual male orthodox Catholic supremacy won the office of the President of our United States for the next four years.
To be fair, some of those who voted for Donald Trump thought they were voting for things like term limits in Congress (like that will ever happen now the Republicans have the majority of both the House and Senate), maybe thinking those coal mines will open up again and let’s get those Supreme Court seats so we can overturn Roe vs. Wade and gay marriage and the like. They probably gave little thought to what we we foresaw and were voting for.
We foresaw those same Supreme Court seats as a way to keep the status quo and potentially progress in our treatment of all our citizens. We foresaw the bigots puffing up their chests, pulling out their wooden crosses and given free rein to vent their hate. We foresaw our country, whose citizens (or their ancestors) all were/are immigrants, becoming frighteningly intolerant of ethnic differences. We foresaw our female loved ones, our disabled family members, our gay/lesbian children and anyone else who is considered “different” from so-called mainstream America becoming at more risk for bullying and worse. That’s why we’re angry and grieving.
Now is not the time for burning in effigy and shouting “Not my President.” The same people who voted for Donald Trump (or against Hillary Clinton) don’t understand our feelings and most certainly do not understand our fear. They do not see the underlying issues, the feelings of betrayal and, sadly, many of them will never truly understand. They see sour grapes and poor losers. Your passionate, heartfelt efforts are wasted and will draw attention away from the true issues.
If our democratic process is broken, now is the time to begin developing a plan to fix it. But we need to respect the one we have; we can’t just yell, “You’re FIRED!” Now is the time to respect the office, even if we do not feel we have sufficient reason to respect the person. Now is the time to plan and wait. Give the president-elect a chance and watch carefully. When he (or the Republican Congress) actually tries to enact a law that tries to take our country backwards towards intolerance of any of our citizens, that will be the time to take any and all legal steps to voice our displeasure, whether it’s lobbying, writing letters/blogs, generating/signing petitions or protesting peacefully.
Change is hard. Harder for some than others. The election results have shown we still have further to go as a country in educating our citizenship on tolerance and respect. Treating everyone, even those we disagree with, with respect, and teaching our children that diversity enriches all of us, ultimately makes our country stronger and better capable to face the challenges of the future. Now is the time to teach our children our nation’s history and how progress towards civil rights is rarely smooth, but most definitely can be achieved and draw the parallels to events of today, so they understand and don’t forget. How we conduct ourselves in front of our children, matching actions to words, will change the future. Slower than we might like for some issues, but it will change their future. Now is not the time to give up.
Now is not the time for protests, but remain vigilant...the time may very well come — unfortunately, sooner rather than later.