Wiping my tears- Time for Service and Resistance
Wednesday was awful and I feared I couldn’t write, couldn’t see clients. Everyone I voted for lost. Today I woke up ready to fight. My progressive politics are an integral part of my Marriage Geek message- you are not required to read any further. I get it that lots of people don’t agree with me but the greatest thing about the internet is that everyone can have their own soap box.
Michael Moore’s 5 Point “Morning After to-do List” resonates. I get it now. “Everyone must stop saying they are “stunned” and “shocked”. What you mean to say is that you were in a bubble and weren’t paying attention to your fellow Americans and their despair. YEARS of being neglected by both parties, the anger and the need for revenge against the system only grew. Along came a TV star they liked whose plan was to destroy both parties and tell them all “You’re fired!” Trump’s victory is no surprise. He was never a joke. Treating him as one only strengthened him. He is both a creature and a creation of the media and the media will never own that.”
Voting does not let me off the hook. It does not transfer my power to someone- my proxy charged with fighting my fights for me. Had Hillary won, I might have remained complacent. If electing the first African American to the presidency didn’t end racism, how the hell did I think she was going to end sexism? Nope…
Why would we trust government to fix stuff? Why do we give them that much credit? My party betrayed me but the majority of people in this country did not vote for Trump. I stand with them. I have spent my whole career committed to the idea that change occurs at the personal level. Relationships matter. Parenting and family have more power in our society than government does.
Rape is illegal and it happens all the time. Sexual assault comes from a place of entitlement and misogyny that must be challenged in our personal relationship, in our day to day interactions.
No wall is ever going to keep mothers from risking everything to give their children better lives. Parents will always fight for their families, fight poverty, fight injustice, fight unjust laws.
Laws and Supreme Courts have actually never stopped women from having choices, they have simply made them more dangerous. Women will always have a choice and courageous health care provides will break unjust laws.
There is real and present danger to black, brown, Muslim, LGBTQ and all other non-white-Christian people in this country. That isn’t new. It was true under Obama. It will be empowered by the election of Donald Trump. We must continue to video injustice when we see it, we must continue to stand up to Islamophobia and homophobia and transphobia and… ok… you get it.
I know I can do more. I know that I can’t just care about “our” kids, “our” community. I believe in the power of raising all kids. I believe in the power of love to heal all differences. I believe in connection- we are them. We are one people, one country. I don’t have it all figured out but I am determined to turn my anger and fear into service and resistance. I promise to move outside of my progressive bubble and look for the places that have been breeding this fear and despair.