Arming Ourselves Against the End of the World
A flashback to the week before Trump took the Oath of Office…
This week has been a difficult one. Not only for myself, still confused about the largest political upset in the history of this country, but for my friends, who have expressed legitimate fear for their own lives in response to the results of this presidential race.
In general, I’d wait to speak out. There are too many emotions, there’s too much information to sift through. But I can no longer sit idly by.
Here’s what I’m hearing from the world about Donald Trump: He has consistently failed to demonstrate the grace and tact necessary for the role of President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the US military. He has a demonstrated lack of self-control in arguments with others. He does not appear to possess the restraint required to manage a task as perennially precarious as running a world superpower. And he appears to lack humility, which any person in a position of power should possess.
It also appears we have no option but to look to this man to lead us safely through the next four years.
Sure, I could go on, but I won’t. And I can’t.
Because the stakes are now too high.
Here are the facts: Trump has won the 2016 election. Women and minorities are, in their own words, terrified. People are worried their relatives will be deported — or worse — and that we’ll all inevitably be vaporized by nuclear attack. Citizens all over the country, and around the world, are stating, and not ironically, that this could, indeed, be the end of the world.
Somewhere along the way we got separated — as families, as friends, as communities, as the faithful. And we somehow convinced ourselves that our own personal well-being stood above our families, our communities, and our faith. We became a selfish horde who took and rarely gave. We rolled over people’s feet with our shopping carts. We took what we wanted and lay to waste the rest.
We tear each other down both in the halls of Congress and on our streets. And there are far too many among us who truly feel that taking care of others is not their problem.
Is that the world we want to live in? A world of rude, dismissive, disrespectful people who can’t be bothered to help anyone else?
This crescendo of consumerism, greed, and self-interest has been building for decades. We’ve taken food away from farms and brought it to processing plants. We’ve watched the lights go out, one by one, at small businesses all around the country. We’ve watched our children starve.
And now, in a bizarre twist of fate, “Not My Problem” is right here, poised to take the Oath of Office.
Life’s funny that way.
Let me assure you, folks, it’s all our problem now.
What is Trump if not a reflection of our own behavior?
Hillary Clinton, in her concession speech, reminded us that we are better together. She graciously conceded to her opponent and encouraged our world to stay united, stay faithful, and continue to believe in our country.
But why must we constantly be reminded to stay faithful and continue to believe?
Because we lack faith. We lack faith our words will be heard. We lack faith in progress. And, most of all, we lack faith in the goodness of our own people.
After some thought, this is what I concluded:
If we’re united from the beginning, we stand a better chance of being united at the end.
It’s time for us all to unite. To be kind. To accept one another. To care more. To be grateful. To build community. To love each other.
Love unites. It does not divide.
We can heal, and we will get through this.
