So many of us are discouraged today. So many are heartbroken. So many are afraid for their futures and the futures of their children. A few are jubilant, but I expect many more are experiencing a relief mingled with disgust. This was an ugly election in which most people felt angry at “having” to choose between these two options.
Let me say first of all that I’m sorry. If you’re afraid you’ll be deported, I’m so sorry. If you’re worried your family will be split up, I’m so sorry. If you feel that your fellow citizens have voted against you as a person of color or a woman or a member of the LGBT community, or any other marginalized group, I’m so, so sorry. You matter. You matter to me and to millions of Americans. I hope that soon you will feel safe and loved and welcome in your home.
I also hope that you will join me in fighting against hatred. There’s a temptation now to retreat behind the walls we’ve erected around our political camps. But one thing that has always made America great is that Americans are able to move past differences after an election and work together.
I remember my mother telling me, with powerful emotion in her voice, “When Thomas Jefferson was elected and John Adams yielded the presidency to him, it was the first time in the history of the world that power was transferred from one party to another without a drop of blood being shed. It is an incredible thing to belong to that country.”1
Please, friends, let’s make our founding fathers proud. I don’t expect that we’ll riot or revolt, but we can do nearly as much damage by entrenching ourselves in anger and resentment. All over Facebook I’m seeing, “If you voted for Trump, make sure to explain to your lgbt+, female, black, latino/a, Muslim friends why they don’t matter to you.” Or “If you voted third party or didn’t vote, please unfriend me. I will not forget.” A large portion of our country believes that their friends and neighbors voted deliberately for bigotry and misogyny, and I don’t think that’s quite fair. Your friends and neighbors may have voted for a man who is bigoted and misogynistic, but so many of them did it while holding their noses, even weeping at what they felt they must do.
Many of them were voting for the lives of children, believing as they2 do that unborn human beings are people and people deserve to live. Many were voting for the freedom to live a faith that Secretary Clinton has openly threatened. Others were voting for their livelihoods, with uncertain jobs and the cost of living on the rise; any change, they thought, must be better.
I can’t say I totally understand them. I refused to vote for him and I refused to vote for her. I found both of them morally abhorrent. And I understand the instinct to characterize his platform as one of hatred and xenophobia, but not everybody who voted for him was intending to vote for that. Many are so scared of life as they’re living it now that they were unable to see the threat to immigrants and people of color and women and, well, the whole planet. I have a hard time understanding that, but I also don’t personally feel threatened by the state of things in this country.
This is the trouble: we don’t understand each other. Being angry and depressed won’t fix that. But trying to love people we disagree with–even people whose choices threaten our very lives–that is the greatest act of defiance against a campaign of hatred.
America is already great. We’re great because we band together after tragedies and natural disasters. We’re great because we support each other in spite of our differences. We’re great because we celebrate the freedom to protest. We’re great because when we disagree, we still work together. Let’s honor those whose vision gave us this great country by loving each other in the midst of feelings of anger and betrayal and terror.
Whatever side of the political spectrum you fall on, you must understand that there are people who are unlike you who are terribly afraid. So whatever you feel today, fury or despondency or relief or elation, make this promise: I will not define people by their ideologies. I will love.
Then make a concrete resolution to reach out to people who may be feeling particularly attacked or endangered because of last night’s decision. Make a donation to a group that serves refugees,speak out against domestic violence, commiserate with a friend, volunteer to tutor ESL, invite an immigrant family over for Thanksgiving, keep an eye out for sexual predators when you’re at a bar, befriend a person of color who seems nervous in an all-white situation. Just find someone who isn’t like you and learn how to be an ally.
The thought of saying President Trump makes me feel ill, much though I may understand that it’s not actually the end of the world. But loathing the people who elected him doesn’t fix that. The hashtag all along has been #loveTrumpshate. Let’s live that.
You lament the outcome but didn’t vote? You have some thinking to do. If you didn’t care about the outcome, then fine. But that’s not what’s implied in this piece.
Fear is no explanation. We choose fear as we choose love.
She didn’t say she didn’t vote, did she?
I am one who is elated at the election results. I can finally relax that I will not be marginalized for my Catholic faith or see religious liberty threatened. I have hope that the USA will not become a socialist country which embraces a Culture of Death. I’m truly sorry you don’t seem to get the fact that more than 4,000 unborn babies are torn apart every single day in the U.S. by “choice,” and that women deserve better than abortion.
I will not see my taxes used to support this killing. And by the way, I have family members who are gay and I love them, but I don’t accept your premise that I need to celebrate mental illness in order to make them feel accepted. I also belong to a diverse community whom I love, and I also reject your assumption that I don’t love them either.
I will continue to pray for our country and those newly elected, in the hope that our country will once again return to morality, where families and marriages are celebrated rather than sabotaged. If you don’t share those sentiments, then please don’t persecute those who hold them or name-call them bigots or misogynistic or whatever else you choose to call them.
Donald Trump gave a beautiful acceptance speech last night in which he promised to bind wounds and be the president of ALL the people. Why don’t you give the man a chance to unite us and stop perpetuating the divisiveness of the last eight years.
Thank you for listening. I will pray for you and this country that I love.
You voted for a man who twice sabotaged his own marriage over a woman who refused to let infidelity define hers. What are you even talking about?
Liz,
She voted for exactly what she wrote in her post- for religious liberty, unborn babies, and freedom from a potential socialist country. Hillary is about as corrupt as a politician can be- she should have been running in a third world country- she may have been elected there. And anyhow, as a Catholic there are a list of non-negotiables, and couldn’t in good conscience vote for Hillary.
Thank you Meg; you’ve said exactly what my soul needed to hear/read. Blessings to you.
Right on Joanne. GO watch the EWTN documentary on Saul Alinsky, a Wolf and Sheep’s Clothing and you will realize what Meg is all about. I am sure she has John Podesta on her speed dial.
Actually, Kel, I have seen the EWTN documentary “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.” My eyes glossed over trying to keep track of name after name, but I think I caught the gist of it. We need to know that there are dissidents in the Church (no surprise what John Podesta said about causing division in the Church) and that they’ve been planted for years (former Communist Bella Dodd revealed that 1300 had infiltrated the seminaries in the 50s). It’s truly sad to know that some of those dissidents are in prominent positions in the hierarchy, but knowing that should make us wary.
Meg,
I do not understand you either- especially because you are Catholic- as am I. Your piece (and previous ones regarding this election) do not reflect that you wish for unity. This man has won the presidency, and if we want to avoid riots, and unrest- I think it’s time we stop bad mouthing Trump with hashtags like “loveTrumpshate”. You are hating Trump are you not? This age of blogs, Facebook, Twitter and 24/7 internet has turned our mouths into bullhorns to anyone who has ears and eyes… so each little drop in the water causes wide ripples… I agree very much with what Joanne said- and have much in common with her. We all need to pray for our leaders – and ourselves – and this country. Because this country is indeed remarkable like no other, and it’s founded on the premises that we are UNDER GOD, so let’s try not to be His “unprofitable servants”. Please stop dividing us- if you hold to what you believe Trump to be, a divider- then stop emulating him.
Wow,
Reading these other comments it appears that you have way bigger problems to deal with than my suggesting that you should have voted your conscience. Please accept my apology. I wish you the very best. You are a kind and loving soul.
I don’t understand the reaction of devastation that is being rolled out after this election. I voted for Trump. I will continue to pray and fast for his conversion and for all of these United States of America. We must treat everyone with dignity that God gave them…not because they are colored, homosexual, old, young, born, unborn. I am pretty sick of everyone trying to claim a victimhood because of whatever. God made you. I love you. (saying this to everyone)
Meg, I’m not sure I understand your lament, but thank you for sharing your thoughts among friends.
Maybe you can post this link (below) on your Facebook, as I see you posted something against supposed Trump voters. I don’t think you should actually, I just wanted you to see that hate is all around us, and you are not helping by posting things like that on FB.
Honestly Meg, it seems to me you are trying to divide more than unite.
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/police-investigate-video-of-man-beaten-up-for-voting-for-trump/
Thanks for posting, I am finding your point of view super helpful in understanding the strong feelings I have and have heard from family/friends/neighbors. I just wanted to let you know, thanks again!