the day after

I'm still reeling and functioning on only a few hours of sleep. Around midnight when things were looking really bad, I gave up and went to bed, but I kept waking up and panicking. 

After watching state after state turn red on the electoral maps as the night wore on, I began to wonder what I'm going to tell my children in the morning. Bullies win. Experience and expertise don't matter. The American electorate is desperately short-sighted and uninformed and frighteningly okay with racism, misogyny, bigotry and threats of assault from its own president-elect.

I can also tell them this: take nothing for granted. Take one day at a time. And - as trite and cliché as this sounds - be the change you wish to see in the world. Today, I would expand that to say don't depend on others to do that for you.

Well, that's democracy. Knit on? I'll try.

Comments

Margaret said…
As a Canadian, I've hesitated to comment, but I think your last sentences - "be the change you wish to see in the world. Today, I would expand that to say don't depend on others to do that for you" - applies to all of us. This kind of right-wing populist reaction to neo-liberal policies and damage is gaining ground throughout at least the Western world. It's going to take a lot of political education (and Solidarity Sing-alongs!)to channel that anger and despair into positive change.
(P.S. We sang "When we make peace instead of war" at both my parents' funerals, thanks to your blog, which is where I discovered it and the Solidarity Sing-alongs. I have been reading you ever since.)

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