It was the day after the election and I woke up feeling sick to my stomach, my body felt numb and my perception of everything felt shaky, like I was in the fog of a bad dream. The feeling continued to permeate my day– every time I thought with disbelief that Donald Trump is our president I feel a bit of fear, a bit of nausea and an overwhelming urgency to do something, but what can I do?
I’m a bright-side looker and all I can think is, maybe this is a catalyst for the revolution we truly need. Our earth and her people need a change– I voted for Hilldawg and I wanted her to win, but I think it’s safe to say that things probably wouldn’t have changed all that much with her– maybe this is the super screwed up slap in the face we needed in order for us to actually make change happen. But we CANNOT do it if we are DIVIDED, and realizing this is the first step if we want to achieve a successful revolution. We have to realize that the people who support Trump desperately want to see changes too, and they were willing to ignore some things about the candidate in order to get it.
As human beings we are connected to one another by a far deeper bond than any differences created by race, religious belief, nationality or political party—these are constructions of our mind, we are driven to categorize people, it’s part of the way we work as a human animal. It makes life and interacting with other beings manageable—but it also destroys the truth—and our media continues to promote that destruction, we feed into it as viewers, their ratings to go up and so they give us more of it.
I don’t hate Donald Trump, he is my brother too. I disagree with the way he conducts himself, but I am beginning to understand why so many people voted for him.
Life is hard, they’re tired and they saw he was going to change things up… For those who feel that they’ve had the rug pulled out from under them repeatedly as our country’s leadership has flip flopped, with nobody appearing to make any lasting progress, Trump offered a wild monkey wrench of hope.
He was the outspoken one who definitely did not do things by the book—I could see how, if you’ve become jaded by the two-faced nature of our politicians (as we all probably should be), that you would opt for the loose cannon, he’s selling authenticity along with crude stupidity, and that authenticity is what got everyone’s attention.
What I prefer to think happened was that people sort of disregarded all the bigotry and inappropriate behavior because they so desperately wanted a change. I truly hope his hate speech, which regardless of whether you support him or not, that’s what is, was not what resonated with you. I don’t think it is.
We are facing devastating world issues in present times— and the way the media delivers the “news” is repeatedly fueling a fire between you and someone that is thousands of miles away, it is giving you information without any interaction and breeding feelings of hatred and fear between you and someone you’ve never met. It is wreaking havoc on the way we see and relate to each other as human beings, and it’s affecting the way we interact with our fellow (brother) citizen.
When people only get their information about world affairs from the news and are repeatedly told how dangerous it is outside of our country, that it’s not safe out there, what reaction do you expect?
When we are afraid, or feel threatened, it’s only natural to want someone who vows to protect us, someone who’s not afraid to push that red button. The ‘red button’ line alone makes me feel sick to my stomach—as if you could condense murdering thousands of your brothers and sisters into a “little red button.”
If you have not been lucky enough to meet a diverse group of people, to really connect with and turn strangers from other countries into close friends, then please do, because it will remind you what being human is all about. I guarantee that you will discover the true innate desire for love, connection, health, happiness, AND goodwill towards others exists in pretty much all of us— of course there’s a few bad apples, but there are a billion more who are kind, and looking for the exact same thing you are.
People are being led to believe that other countries are stealing from us with their suffering, that our resources are being wasted on them, that we need to lock down the borders in order keep ourselves safe and sound and regain prosperity; meanwhile a subtle but serious war is being strategically orchestrated between all of us on the inside—between you and me.
Have you noticed a trend in this election, the way they are successfully dividing us? Please brothers and sisters, I beg you to wake up to the truth of the situation—we are being manipulated by the media and distracted by a political game.
I don’t think that just because you voted for Mr. Trump that you automatically believe women deserve to be sexually harassed, or share views with the KKK; but that image is being painted and your character is being called into question in the eyes of the other side. And the same is true for those who supported Mrs. Clinton. An effective and poisonous division has been cast between us.
Shortly after the election I saw a series of articles covering riots and civil unrest from dissatisfied citizens, but the media paints an image of it being strictly between Clinton supporters and Trump supporters—please don’t buy into this. The hate and distrust that is being created is going to set us back hundreds of years. Media bias claims it’s “Pro-Clinton” supporters who are rioting, that’s not true. Many of us voted for Clinton because we didn’t feel we had another viable option. I wouldn’t call myself a Clinton or a Trump supporter– I’m a humanity supporter.
It’s imperative that we realize that this is a cat and mouse show, and it’s one that we just don’t have time for—there are serious environmental issues on our hands that need to be addressed now. We may not have another four years to reverse the damage we’ve already done to our planet.
Who cares who is president or how high taxes are if you don’t have a planet to live on, if all the food has dried up from the drought, the water levels have risen several feet, and millions of displaced people have moved to your country in desperate hope for survival… deny it all you want, but that displaced person could easily be you.
What we need right now is to come together and meet each other with compassion regardless of individual viewpoints, because when it really comes down to it, you have no idea what has happened in someone’s life that has led them to form their belief system. Please do not hate them because they disagree, this only removes our potential power. We cannot change the system if we are divided.
The facts remain, we are all part of the same human family, and the way we treat each other and our environment is in need of a massive restructuring. These are the things that urgently need our attention.
So how can we begin to fix the situation?
- By recognizing ideas that we have become emotionally attached to and taking the steps to remove the attachment so that we can find common, fact-based ground to stand together on. Start with the fundamental notion that we are all the same, we all want the same thing, and move on from there.
- Look at the news media with scrutiny, and recognize that much of what we see is sensationalized for ‘entertainment’ purposes—go deep and trace the money trail, see who supports the network and why it is in their best interest for you to adopt the opinions they’re selling you.
- Notice how you feel when watching news segments that are playing the blame game while telling you that your livelihood and freedom are being attacked– are you getting excited about this, are you getting angry, is it sparking a feeling of hatred within you? Remind yourself that there are many sides to the story and you are only seeing one—they are purposefully targeting your emotions, don’t let them!
- Refrain from categorizing people by political party and disregarding their worth because they don’t share the same one as you.
- Recognize that we ALL want change. The economic, criminal and health issues we are seeing are symptoms of flawed fundamentals; these cannot be fixed by new legislation or political party alone.
- Be weary of those who stand on a pulpit and tell you that they have the answers; they are the least likely to have them.
- The most important one though, and the crack in the foundation that is causing all of this turmoil, is the fact that we are seeing our brothers and sisters as “other.” We need to develop love and compassion for every other human on this planet, if we don’t heal this broken link, nothing will ever change. We will remain powerless, manipulated and pitted against one another as big corporations continue to rape our planet of its resources behind the scenes. Regardless of who is in office—if we do not stand together, we all lose.