I'm watching my world fall apart.
Since 5 pm this evening I've been watching my world fall apart. This morning I woke up under the impression that my country would be under the watchful eye of a woman who knows what do in the international community. Tonight I am going to bed knowing that for the next four years my country will be under the watchful eyes of a man who is unpredictable at best.
I'm watching my world fall apart.
I've watched myself change over the last couple of years. Somehow along the way I went from a young woman who didn't support the LGBTQ community, who had unintended racist feelings to someone who cares very deeply about the safety and security of every minority. Tonight I've heard friends express fear because in a Trump Presidency they don't know if their rights will be protected. They don't know if their parents will be deported. They don't know if they will be able to freely practice their religion.
I'm watching my world fall apart.
I was talking with a friend the other day about stereotypes I realized then how fundamentally my viewpoint has changed. I told her "Stereotypes get me in trouble more often than not and, like, I'm really trying to stop thinking in stereotypes because I REALLY don't want to be racist or homophobic or think bad thoughts towards people don't look or act just like me because that's the part of the world I legitimately hate. So I'm trying to change and I refuse to use stereotypes." and I have to believe that there are so many more just like me. I have to believe that America at it's core is not the misogynistic, racist nation that seems to have showed up to vote today. And even if we are that nation, then I truly hope and believe that we can change. because otherwise,
I'm watching my world fall apart.
But also tonight I've watched my friends band together, all of them, regardless of religions, of race, of sexual orientation, of sex. I've watched them all come together to share in each other's pain. To give each other hope. To allow ourselves to purge and to fall apart, but then to pick ourselves right back up to begin to talk about what changes we will make.
We're building the world we want.
I was speaking with a friend who asked me if I still wanted to work for the government after the election results. My response was "Cognitive dissonance be darned. I have to serve the country I believe in, not the president I don't believe in. If all the best, or even mediocre, people step down and don't step up then American will lose even more than we already have." I know I'm not alone in this viewpoint.
We're building the world we want.
Although tonight was absolutely devastating, and I literally watched my world crumble in front of me, I have to believe that we are like the phoenix. I have to believe that we will rise, that those of us who desire to be heard, that we will begin to build the nation we want to see. I have to believe that the incredible people I go to school, church and work with will rise above all of this and be the leaders and voters we want to see.
I'm building the world I want.
You're building the world you want.
And together we will build the world we want.
