Over the past couple of months when coworkers came by my desk and asked what I would do if Trump won the election, I rolled my eyes.
It was media hype, he would never win.
And like most people in the world…I say world and not the US, because today the US failed the world… I watched the unbelievable unfold.
A racist, misogynist…terrifying man is now leading what was once a world superpower. And why? Why did we let this happen? How could this happen?
There’s a lot of blame going around. Blaming the Americans who didn’t vote or voted third party and blaming the ignorance of people who chose to vote for Trump. People are scared and angry and really really sad, I know I am.
But there isn’t a lot the world can do as we watch the US unravel. We have to be bystanders. We have to keep the country in our thoughts and hope for the best and hope that the best is a revolution of some kind…but I digress.
I feel deeply saddened by the events that occurred today. And I’m sad not just because I think a lot of people I care about are in danger and there are difficult years ahead, but I’m sad because Trump won because of our fears.
In yoga, when you practice asana, instructors often tease, that students fear headstands because they are afraid of falling over and dying. They often have the strength and ability, but their fear of the unknown and being injured prevents them from achieving it or causes imbalance and the inevitable fall. This election was based on fear…and now we have fallen.
Fear that jobs and money are leaving the country, fear of immigrants taking all the money, fear of Muslims and terrorists, fear of women with power, and fear of same sex…sex. All these fears are fears of insecurity, fear of there not being enough, fear of the unknown…and most people live their lives in fear.
A friend of mine gave me a bracelet once with the words “Love>Fear” inscribed in it. I wear it everyday And every time I look at it, it reminds me that when I choose love in a situation instead of fear, I am more powerful…and the more we all do this the more momentum we build for creating the kind of world where people like Trump aren’t given leadership.
We can’t re-write what has just happened, but we can start to change this story. We can take the fear that caused this election outcome and start to see ourselves in these people who voted for Trump, and know that they weren’t trying to end the world, they were scared. They were bombarded with stories where their livelihoods were jeopardized and instead of thinking rationally, they stayed in that fear.
The worst has happened, we can’t go back, but we can move forward. We have to. Where there is love, fear becomes smaller. And the smaller our fear the less powerful people like Trump, who operate on people’s fears, become.
I hope we can all start tomorrow with less fear.
There is a lot of unknown ahead for us all, but acting and reacting with fear will only hold us back.
kittyscause 