Mindful bonuses from Waylon & elephant community:
“There is no better test of a man’s integrity than his behavior when he is wrong.” ~ Marvin Williams
.
Trump may have won the Electoral College votes, but he won’t ever be my president.
I don’t care to hear about how we need our country to go in a different direction.
Nor do I care to hear about how he won’t really be able to change anything because of Congress.
What matters to me right now is that my daughters are being taught that men can grab women by the p*ssy and still be elected to our highest office.
That someone can be a racist bigot, and completely unversed in foreign policy, and still convince thousands of people that he can be their voice and lead our country back to greatness.
You know what? The truth is this country—my country—has always been great.
We are great because we are free—because we believe in freedom of speech and because we embrace gender, racial and marriage equality.
What doesn’t make us great is hate.
My heart broke a little this morning when I saw that somehow, someone without any political experience was able to actually make people believe that he would know what to do when sitting in that historical oval office.
The funny thing is that I needed six years of college, two degrees and a practicum in order to get my job—but apparently, no experience is now required for the presidency.
I think of the men who founded our country, the women who fought for our gender equality and those civil rights leaders—such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X—and I wonder if they are rolling over in their graves, questioning our entire society because we somehow have allowed someone who doesn’t really care about us to take charge of all of our collective destinies.
Luckily, this nation is one under God—and not Trump.
Some will say that because we are one country united, that regardless of who won, we should embrace them and support them—but I just won’t be doing that.
Because by doing that—by saying that I’m going to support this man just because he was elected—I am also giving my stamp of approval on his behavior and his character, and I have too much integrity to sell myself out to the establishment of white men who believe it’s the color of their skin that gives them owed privilege.
Trump will never be my president.
He may live in the White House, and he may even pass a few laws or bills—but my country, the one that I am proud to be a part of, will never become his.
He won’t understand this, and that’s because he doesn’t understand love; he doesn’t understand that being in charge of this country doesn’t mean he is going to silence the voices of those who have seen his truth from the start.
Trump lives in this country, but he doesn’t truly see it.
He doesn’t see that it’s the women of this nation who give it its diverse originality. He doesn’t see the beauty in having races work, live and love together—and beyond the boundaries of what was previously deemed “socially acceptable.” He can’t appreciate the look in the eyes of a child who lives here now, safe as a political refugee.
He doesn’t see that we are created, and grown from hope, to create a better world. The thing is though, even Trump can’t stop that—it just means that we have to step it up.
This is a call to my brothers and sisters, those who believe in their hearts that doing the right thing is the only option; those who feel called to leave the world a better place than they found it.
The truth is that we are this country, and it is us alone who make this country great.
We are the people, we are the love, and we are the vision of our nation.
I’m not going to let the thoughts and actions of one very opinionated, hateful man determine how my next four years will play out, because I am going to just keep spreading the love.
I am going to keep pushing for racial equality and breaking outdated gender roles.
I am hoping to keep moving forward in the pursuit of my own soul’s evolution—and by doing that, I hope, just maybe, to inspire others to do the same.
I’m going to choose to see the good—in others, in this nation and in life—but I will never accept this man as my president, because I don’t think he truly represents us.
Trump is the shadow side, the side that so many of us have fought to overcome for decades in the face of oppression, and now our nation has chosen fear once again. I cried when I first heard that this man had captured the presidency, because the thought of him being in charge of my nation terrifies me.
But if I let that fear take over, and I begin to change the way I think or do things, then that is what really lets him win.
So instead, I’m going to do just the opposite—I’m going to keep living, just as I have been.
I’m choosing to believe that, in the end, goodness will win; and while hate, racism and sexism may still be alive in this country, it doesn’t mean that I will ever change my actions because of it.
Trump is only one man—he is not as powerful as the collective.
So, while he may be sworn into office in January, it’s not really him who represents the United States of America—it’s all of us.
It’s the refugees from Cambodia, the third-generation immigrants from Ireland, the descendants of slaves, and the blood of those first Native Americans who walked on this blessed soil so many moons ago.
We are the United States of America, and it is within all of us that I put my trust.
“No matter how educated, talented, rich or cool you believe you are, how you treat people tells all. Integrity is everything.” ~ Unknown
~
Author: Kate Rose
Image: Instagram @taranwilkhu
Editor: Yoli Ramazzina
Read 2 Comments and Reply
Read 2 comments and reply