It’s been hard to be positive since the election.
From the presidential election results on down the ballot, it has been difficult.
It’s required unfriending people.
Avoiding social media and the news.
A Sheltering in place emotionally and psychologically.
But one can’t remain this way.
Eventually, one must reengage the real world so that we are not prisoners of our imagination.
Following the news, watching as the foxes are put in charge of government henhouses has been depressing.
And yet…
For several reasons, I have hope.
First, nothing is official.
We must not borrow trouble. That doesn’t mean we don’t prepare and organize.
It means that we don’t enter into a perpetual state of depression.
Second, we must not wallow in sadness.
We must act.
Reacting to fascism is not ideal.
It’s better to prevent it before it’s allowed to take root.
But reacting is our only recourse since a majority of the country refused to prevent it.
We must continue to agitate, plan, and strategize.
Our republic, seriously flawed as it is, is worth fighting for, even if many in the country are actively working to dismantle it.
Even if we are fight for the idea of the republic more than the actual republic, it is worth the fight.
If you can write, write.
If you can organize, organize.
If you can make phone calls, send emails, and attend events, do so.
Whatever you can do, do it to save this country from ruin.
Finally, many of us must lean into sources of strength and power beyond ourselves.
Some will lean into human reason, logic, and intellect.
Some will lean into a belief that a basic decency of humanity will eventually triumph over ignorance, narcissism and greed.
For me, it’s having faith in a supreme being.
I’m leaning into my faith in Jesus and those who authentically follow him, not so-called Christians who voted for the former president, or the bastardized faith to which they ascribe.
I’m leaning into the Jesus of the Gospels.
The Jesus of the Sermon of the Mount.
The Jesus who modelled love, kindness, and compassion.
I’m leaning into a Gospel that bears no resemblance to Christians who support the former president.
Whatever you place your faith, lean into it.
We must not abandon hope, even if it seems that we are about to pass through the gates of Hell.
We must maintain hope so we may persevere in the hard, but good work laid out before us.
The work of preserving and maintaining the republic.