The Day After

The sun is shining this morning. My usually upbeat mom woke to a nightmare. My squad text thread has been silent. And what did I do when I woke up this morning? I drew a map (OK, of course I didn’t draw a map! I can’t draw!), I mean, I made a list of all the states not accounted for and started adding up electoral college votes. This will be my touchstone for the next few days, as I continue to hope for a Biden win.

I have seen a lot of posts saying that this race should never even have been this close. But the fact that the country is so divided, and that so many good people (yeah, I said it) are willing to put their vote behind a man who has been shown to lie and cheat and steal is so troubling to me. This man who has proven to have a very sketchy ethical and moral compass. This man who has maligned and made fun of just about every group of people ever, unless you are a rich white male. And people voted for him. Many, many people. Not because they also want to keep down all those different people (although some do) but because they followed the numbers presented to them and voted with their wallets and perhaps didn’t listen to their hearts. Their lives are good, and some have turned a blind eye to all that Trump and his cronies have done to the people of this country to get them there, to the place where the good life is. 

This country and its citizens are in serious trouble. Do not mistake this for drama or sour grapes. Our faith is shaken. Our humanity is lost. Instead of lending a helping hand, many are saying, “You should do what I did. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.”, not realizing that the shoes they have don’t even have soles or shoelaces. We need to do better. We need to be better.

My dad told me the other day that my siblings and I were lucky because we didn’t have to fight for anything, that he and my mom did the protesting and fighting against injustice back in the day. Well, Dad, looks like we will get our shot at this. Because no matter which side wins, we all need to start fighting for each other, support each other, and figure out how to just be human to each other. While you are waiting to see what the outcome is, start preparing yourself for what we need to do to get our humanity back and to help those in our country who deserve to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Rise up!