In the aftermath of this election, I don't know what to say or what to do.
I fear that no matter what I say or what I do, I am going to offend someone.
If I point out one side, I will get hammered by the other side.
If I stay silent, I will be accused of complicity.
Right now, I am just drained dry.
For a week, I've had very little to give to anyone.
I do not want to hate or be hateful, but I fear that I will be labeled as a "hater" no matter what I say or what I do.
I don't know what to do in this aftermath of the most contentious Presidential election in my lifetime, and the most stunning upset since "Dewey Defeats Truman". People are angry, and people are afraid. And nothing anyone says or does seems to calm this fear or this anger.
A Facebook friend said that she didn't think we'd ever heal, and I worry that she's right.
And while I hope I'm wrong, I fear a mass civil disturbance is on its way. I fear an attack on the President-elect and/or on our country. I'm not holed up in the house--I won't do that--but I don't think I'm being paranoid by saying that this is what I'm afraid of.
Mentally, I think I was more prepared for a Clinton presidency than a Trump presidency. Now, my brain is trying to make the shift and it's not doing very well.
My writing is nil at this point. The story I have been working on, I don't have the gumption to write on right now. My poor best friend, also a writer, has similar feelings; and she carries a burden that I do not. She's a caregiver to an elderly relative, and that presents its own challenges.
We are both drained dry.
So, in the aftermath of this election, and in this transition from Obama to Trump, what now?
I don't know.
Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.
Tina, was this really a "stunning upset?" Or was it a "stunning upset" to the media, pollsters, and establishment of both parties? I kept shaking my head throughout the whole election cycle as one after another after another of these groups kept assuring us that THEY knew exactly what would happen, THEY had it all under control, it was going to be Clinton as President, never fret, dear ones. It is not astonishing that they were wrong. It is astonishing that none of them appears to have heard this cliche:"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." When Hillary Clinton ran for President the first time, the media, the pollsters, the establishment of both parties kept taking an attitude of "Oh, he's a cutie pie, that's true, but Clinton will win." What did we hear when she didn't? Utter shock from the media, the pollsters, the establishment of the party, etc etc etc. Never mind that anyone with one half the level of normal hearing in one ear could hear that Obama's star was rising and rising and rising among large numbers of the electorate that the others thought they KNEW all about. I remarked at the time that all the experts reminded me of nothing more than a two year old covering his ears and chanting "Me no yisten,Me no listen." So what happens this year? Not ONLY does one party put up Clinton AGAIN, the Republicans urge the THIRD member of a family to run! What do we hear from the "experts?" "It will be a Bush/Clinton race." Sure it will. Perhaps in the minds of the "me no yisten" crowd, but to the entire rest of the country, it was very very very clear that Americans were not going to choose between the second member of one family or the third of another.
ReplyDeleteI am going to borrow a quote from a write named Frank Bruni of the Washington Post. The Democrats were determined to run someone who was "more due than dazzling." The mindset was that it was her turn. Lots of Americans didn't think it was. The media spent all night Nov 8 saying, "I don't know how I got this so wrong." Now they are trying frantically to convince us that NOW they've got it figured out, and I say bushwah to that! I have no idea how this will turn out,but this country has survived some worse things than Trump. A Revolution, a war that split the country and had brothers fighting against brothers, Vietnam, two attacks on American soil. We'll survive Trump, too. If he accomplishes nothing else, he has stripped naked the farce that electing an American President has become. That in and of itself is a great service to the country.