I've been taking a break from Facebook, only logging in to post updates on some family health issues, but have been easing my way back in. I'm still planning on being far less active in the foreseeable future. But I've seen several posts I completely agree with - that we need to stop telling people who are upset about the election that "it's going to okay." As they said, it downplays their very real terror about what the next 4 years are going to look like. Terror that I share. They say that telling others you're going to "choose love" is an empty promise.
Despite agreeing with those posts, I'm going to say now that it's going to be okay. Not just because I will choose love - and I will; there is too much hate in the world and the election of Trump just reminds us how very real and volatile that hate is - but because I am going to make it okay. I am going to do my part to make things okay. I will be a vocal and active opponent of the terrible policies I envision coming forward. I will fight for your rights, and for mine, when I believe they are being trampled on. I am no longer going to be a passive voter, who tells people who I'm voting for and why, in the hopes of convincing them, or, worse yet, one who only discusses politics with my like-minded peers, but an active participant in the political process. I'll volunteer, I'll canvas, I'll do everything in my power to ensure that Trump is a one-term president. And I realize that I want very much to help the person who defeats him. This is my goal over the next 4 years.
So, yes, I am choosing love, but love with teeth. Love that fights. Love that bleeds. Love that makes sacrifices for the greater good, because that's what love is: sacrifice. And I love this flawed country, not because of some nationalistic pride. Not because I think we're better than everyone else. Not because it's the place I just happened to be born. But because I see the beauty of it, of why it was created. I believe in the American experiment. And I want it to continue.
We are going to make it through this. But only if we work together to ensure that we make it through this.
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