What Happens Now?

So it happened. What happens now?

In my head, I've written, rewritten and rewritten again about the swirl of thoughts I've had during the election season and in particular last night.  I've never been a prolific blogger (or in earlier days, journaler), but when I need to write, I write.  And I'm pretty sure I need to write right now.

My heart hurt last night as I sighed and rolled over for the last time for the 2 hours of sleep I got. I woke up, got dressed and took my dog for his walk and when I went outside, I realized that the world didn't stop.  It was getting light and we were doing what we do every weekday morning. And we will continue to do it.


Later, as I headed to work, I stopped for a drink at Starbucks as I would on any other Wednesday.  I smiled and said, "Good morning" to two different men I passed in the parking lot.  I realized again that the world didn't stop and I remembered that the thing that we need now is more kindness.  And I'm going to do my part to make sure it happens.

Oh, I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't profoundly saddened and disappointed by the results of yesterday's election.  I also know that if the results had gone the other way, his supporters would be feeling a similar sense of loss and maybe despair. I've decided to allow myself a bit of time to wallow, maybe eat a little junk food, and then move on.

I can't profess to understand why people were able to overlook the bigotry against so many "others" in this campaign.  We've seen the list so many times that there's no need to type them all, but for each of the people I know who qualifies as an "other," I'm sad and I'm sorry.  I'm confused by those who made the choice to overlook that and vote the way they did.  But I can not live my life hating or angry.  It's stressful,  unhealthy and destructive.  And I won't do it.


I came home this afternoon and read posts from people on both sides, ones of both anger and sadness. Ones claiming not to gloat, but that were absolutely gloating, talking about the "whining of the losers" and how this election was a stand against "political correctness gone too far." And again I was sad, but am determined not to be governed by anger. If they can't be gracious in winning, I'm sure they wouldn't be gracious ever.  That's on them.

As for me, here's where I'm landing. This may not be the outcome I wanted, but he will be the president and I am going to trust that the system will work and that things will be okay.  The Constitution was built the way it was for a reason.  An almost 50-50 split where the loser won the popular vote but not the Electoral College cannot be misinterpreted as any kind of a major mandate. And because of that, I am going to have confidence that the system will work.  That change in government comes slowly and that if the new administration starts heavily targeting the "others," that we will all come together and fight to ensure that they won't get away with it.  This is a time for us to come together, be kind and remember that all the "others" together make one great group of Americans.

Our country already was great, it already is great.  What our country really needs now is to become kind again. 


So...what happens now?