Whether you like the results or not, the election is finally over. It’s time to move on to something else. Personally (and perhaps a little idealistically), I think it’s time we moved on to try and work and live together instead of screaming at each other. I’m tired so angry faces and screaming.
A friend of mine said some very wise words yesterday (Yes, I’m quoting you Emily Steele, thank you for being a voice of sanity): we all have to survive this and we’re all Americans at the end of the day. Don’t make the mistake of outright dismissing and disowning family, friends, coworkers and others who might have supported someone you didn’t. And then to directly quote her: “Take a deep breath and seek to genuinely understand why someone voted differently than you… because somehow, some way we have to get together and make this work. We the PEOPLE… not Trump, not Clinton. Don’t assume the worst in your fellow Americans. We’re going to need all the help we can get to survive this, …and we can’t continue to have people so divided and casting aspersions on one another with no basis in fact. Social media just brings out the absolute worst in humanity, I swear. Chill out, and stop demonstrating the very same hateful behavior you rail against.”
There are some who say they are they are moving out of the country because their candidate was not elected. But how does that help heal the country? Running away doesn’t solve things. If you believe in this country, or even if you WANT to believe, you should not run and hide, but calmly and peaceably try to work towards a better future. Maybe you feel that this country’s future isn’t bright. Maybe it isn’t. Maybe it is. We do not have a magical ball that tell us what the future will bring. (Despite what the Psychic Friends Network has tried to tell you.)
If the person you supported lost (and this does not just go for the presidential election) you are allowed to be angry and sad. You SHOULD feel those things. Be angry. Be sad. Work through your feelings and let them out in your own PERSONAL space. But your feelings should NOT permit you to bash others who voted differently than you. If the person you supported DID win, you are allowed to feel happy and you should. But your SHOULD not gloat or be gleeful in someone else’s sorrow. We need to be respectful of each other’s feelings. And before you say, “but HE/SHE/THEY aren’t respectful,” I ask the age-old question, “Do two wrongs make a right?” (Answer: No! But three lefts do!) Here in my house we have a saying (that sadly often goes unheeded): Yelling never helped anything. Hate does not help. Listening and understanding does. If we listened more and communicated with understanding this country could be a much better place (no matter who was our figurehead). By being hateful and hurtful, you are allowing yourself to be part of the problem.
No matter what your thoughts and feelings on this recent election, we need to realize that WE are the people. We live together. We DON’T agree with each other all the time (and you might be surprised on what we do agree on). But we are all flesh and blood. Our DNA is the same. The ugly that we see is part of us now. Maybe we cannot make the ugly go away, but we can treat each other with compassion and understanding. We should avoid judging, and try to listen and understand. It won’t make this world a perfect place, but it certainly COULD make it a better one.
Beth Shorten is a life-long resident of Verona. For more than three years, she has been chronicling life here on her personal site, Bfth’s Boring Blog.
