When something bone-shaking and heartbreaking happens to you, something that punches you in your gut, something that makes you feel like you’re seasick on dry land…sometimes you wake up the next morning and briefly, very briefly, you think that all is well…nothing has changed. And then the truth comes creeping in, slyly and darkly, and your world is once again upside down.
In my 69 years there have been too many times like that for me:
President Kennedy’s assassination
Robert Kennedy’s assassination
John Lennon’s murder
My fiancé’s death
My mother’s death
September 11, 2001
And now I add November 9, 2016, at 4:30 AM when I saw my daughter sitting at the kitchen table, her face a mask. “It’s bad, Mom. It’s really bad.”
Now I, by no means, equate Trump becoming the President-elect to the deaths of loved ones or national tragedies. Not yet anyway.
I cannot predict the future.
I can only deal with it when it arrives.
Each incident happened at a different time in my life. From sixteen to twenty-one, to thirty-three, to forty-two, to forty-four, to fifty-four. Therefore, I dealt with each one differently.
Now on November 10, 2016, I’ve made some decisions about how I’ll deal with this change. These are the things I will do:
- I will continue to be the person I am. I will continue to hold and advocate my liberal views.
- I will continue to treat everyone the way I would want to be treated, no matter what their religion, nationality, race, gender, or who they love…or for whom they voted.
- I will continue to hold my family and friends close and to do the best I can for them
- I will continue to write as much as possible and read as many books as I can
- I will continue to do what I can to save the earth and all those that live on her
- I will continue to pray for peace
I believe we are all basically good.
And I just remembered where I’d read that quote. Anne Frank wrote that. She wrote that as she and her family hid from the epitome of hate.
I have to say it differently: I believe we are all basically good but I will not be made fearful and I will remain watchful.
And I will fight for what I believe is right –the same rights for all of us, no matter gender, race, religion, or who we love.
No matter who is President.
Mitzi Flyte 