Quick Thoughts on Trump...

Anonymous

I watched the American election results roll in until the early hours of the morning. When it became apparent Donald Trump was going to win I just sat back in shock. I couldn’t believe he was explicitly chosen, by millions of people in spite of his many obvious, and horrific failings. I went to sleep that night in shock. When I woke up in the morning I didn’t want to get out of bed, but I did.

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I have days where I don’t get out of bed, I eat a couple chocolate bars and some chips and watch mind numbing television until I’m ready to go back to sleep. I don’t want to deal with the world, and on those days I don’t believe I can handle it. Sometimes it takes two days and the feel of fuzzy teeth to kick me into gear. It’s something I manage with routine and planning but every so often I falter. I wasn’t going to let post-election day be one of those days. I wasn’t going to let someone like Donald Trump stop me from having a day that was worthwhile.
 
The reason this result has hit me so hard is varied. The impact this election will have on minorities and the LGBT community in America is demoralizing and frightening. The fact that the “majority” of one of the most powerful countries in the world chose a lunatic to govern them is disturbing. I can however pinpoint the reason why this outcome is so personally disheartening. I have been sexually assaulted, like so many of Trumps victims. A world where Donald Trump is the most powerful person in the world is not a world I want to step out into. And yet I must. I must step out into that world every day and so must every other woman if they want to continue to BE. To exist.
 
This is something to work through, to endure and overcome, the alternative is despair. One of my favourite cartoons has a quote that helps me to look towards tomorrow with optimism. “…You must never give into despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.”- Uncle Iroh, The Last Airbender. So let us all cultivate hope and spread it throughout the world with the intention of bettering it.