I see skies of blue, and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night, and I think to myself What a Wonderful World. – Louis Armstrong

I thought I would find it really difficult to type those words today, after what I’ve witnessed this week in my country. After what I have had to digest as the “Novus ordo seclorum” as Elon Musk so quickly declared this week. However, after going through a few of the stages of grief (I skipped denial, because well, that action is the purview 45th president), I finally landed on acceptance. It is possible to accept something, and be completely opposed to it as well. Also, and most importantly, acceptance does not imply the absence of hope. Hope for a different day, and a brighter future. Hope will be pried from my cold, dead hands. Kindness and decency will always prevail, at least that is what I choose to believe and will act on in the coming days and years.

I turned on the news for just 30 seconds on Wednesday, and then made my way over to social media for a bit, and well, it did provide for a good amount of temporary hopelessness. Sadness. Anger. Despair. I truly feel deeply for everyone that is experiencing grief and trauma. Everyone should take the time needed to process the big and heavy emotions that have come with the results of this election. But do not permanently go silent, or completely extinguish the fire within. There is much work to do, and the systems that are now in place want people to feel helpless and hopeless. It’s part of the oppressor’s playbook.

For me, I have always found comfort in nature, and escape through reading. Being outside in the woods, or being lost in a book are two of my greatest joys. And so, on Thursday, I vowed to take a good long break from the news, social media, and any other visual distraction that did not serve a greater purpose in my life. I promised myself I’d spend more time making a difference, rather than doomscrolling.

I reached out to great friends who also were feeling lost, and we met to take a long (for me) 9 mile hike and have a picnic. Michigan delivered a spectacular fall day, the sun was shining off the lake, and there was a cool breeze that sometimes felt good, and sometimes felt uncomfortably cold. We saw sandhill cranes, a wild turkey, hawks, and a beautiful bald eagle. And I thought to myself – all is not lost. We hiked for almost three hours, and finished just as the sun was beginning to drop below the trees. The remains of what appeared to be wild amaranth(I think?) were glowing in the fading sunlight. We enjoyed a quick post-hike snack, and went our separate ways. But as ever, the fresh air, woodland creatures and sunlight were a salve to my soul. I will not panic, I will not succumb to fear.

Interesting trivia fact (trivia also brings me joy): The word panic comes from the name of the Greek god Pan, the god of the woods, known for tricking people and causing confusion, so as to disorient them, until they lose their way, and their minds.

I also started (and finished) Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty, the newest book by the best-selling author of Big Little Lies (haven’t read this one). I have read several of her books, but this one had an underlying message that resonated a bit more deeply with me, and perhaps it’s no coincidence that it was received this week. Taken from the back cover synopsis “If you knew your future, would you fight fate?” The books starts with a plane ride experiencing a long delay and a strange in-flight interaction for many passengers consisting of a woman walking down the entirety of the cabin pointing to each person and indicating the cause and age of their death. It’s all written off as a “mental health episode” of the kind old woman on the plane, until the death of one passenger is accurately predicted. It’s a great fictional read about how the lives of all the characters and how they tangentially interact. But the thread of “if you knew when you were going to die, what would you do differently” is ever-present. I give it a 5/5.

To be honest, I don’t ever think about my own mortality, and my life overall is pretty simple. I am a single, straight, white, middle-class woman who has no real health problems, is not on medication, and doesn’t have children or any other dependents relying on me. I am exactly the kind of woman that the VP-elect has said doesn’t have a stake in our country, and I am somehow lesser (I’ll consider the source). BUT I love and care about a lot of people for which this election has meant a great deal, and elicited genuine fear for their safety, livelihoods, and lives. And that friends, makes me sick and so very sad. I did what I could to protect the rights of everyone, and it still feels not enough. I say the below, but vow to do much more:

To Women and Girls: I am so sorry that this country is taking steps so far backwards with regard to control over your own body. That access to some aspects of reproductive healthcare (for now) is only a right for some, and is dependent on where you live. That it’s okay to say you can do whatever you want to a woman’s body, and still be elected president. That “Your Body, My Choice” is a recurring trope on social media platforms (and has made it’s way to high schools here in Michigan) and is not shut down under the mantle of “free speech”. The environment of tolerated hyper-masculinity is disgusting, and those allowing it or looking away should be ashamed.

To the LGBTQIA+ Community: I am sorry that it feels like you are on the precipice of having stripped away all of the rights that you have

gained over the last 20 years. Rights that should apply to ALL people, not just people that love a certain way or look a certain way. Rights that should have been yours all along. I have been an ally to my friends and family who are gay. I have stood by friends as they transitioned, and have gone on to live fulfilled lives as the person they have always felt they were inside. I see these people now, worrying about the legality of their marriages, putting on hold the dreams to become parents, and bracing for what seems to be unchecked violence and hatred in public space. “Watch out Drag Queens” is a post I saw recently – violence and homophobia all in one comment-unbelievable! I hang my head. Family and friends – you will always have a place in my life, a space in my heart and home, and my vote when it is necessary.

To All BIPOC: I apologize that in the 400 years since my ancestors became the first illegal immigrants to this nation, there is still a platform that exists here in the United States to hate someone based solely on the color of their skin. Racism’s ugly tentacles have infiltrated every socio-economic class, and the actions of these groups are now normalized (“very good people“) by the highest leadership of the land. To hear that a targeted text was sent out this week to African American college students and children (who were addressed by name) telling them to “report to the nearest plantation, you’ve been selected to pick cotton” is unreal. It’s “being investigated”. I’m sure. I am disgusted that just one day after the most important election in our nation’s history, that is a reality. Is it an overseas disruptor? Possibly. Is it a good ol’ ‘Merican citizen? Also really good odds. This is not how you should have to live. Never, not ever. This is not how anyone should have to live. And to the Indigenous Peoples who stand to possibly lose their land and homes (AGAIN) to a pipeline, you have already been forced to give enough to the government of this nation. You owe no more.

To Mother Earth: We only have one of you. I hope you are taken into consideration in all of this. There are people that deny that humans are having an impact on your body and the atmosphere. How many more “storms of the century” will it take for them to listen? The answer frightens me. Since the year I was born, the population of this planet has more than doubled. But yeah, continuing to strip the planet of resources that took millions of years to create vs. using renewable sources is probably the better option. I’m not a geologist.

Mostly, I sincerely wish that everyone who participated in this election gets exactly what they deserve and voted for.

If you voted based on the notion that you were going to be paying lower taxes and you’re in a middle to lower income class, well that’s the one thing I’d support too – that’s me! But alas, the tax plan proposed by the president-elect isn’t going to deliver that. The brightest economic minds of the country all said so, and no one believed them. Womp womp. If you voted for the “America First” tariffs believing that they were going to be paid by adversarial foreign countries…well, you should’ve pulled out that dictionary or Econ textbook before 11/5. The price of everything you buy that’s Made in China will be taking that one for the team, and well, that’ll trickle down to you and me. Appliances, anything with a micro-chip, and each and every single-use plastic piece of junk purchased at the un-aptly named Dollar Tree. That’s where you’ll find that tariff hiding.

If you voted solely based on your religious beliefs, and feel that those values should be codified and apply to everyone, you have also set the clock back 400 years. That’s precisely why people fled England and risked their lives to come to a new land. Freedom to practice whatever religion they wished (or no religion at all) – it wasn’t to be a monotheistic theocracy. I have seen hateful comments about how God wouldn’t approve of this or that element of someone’s lifestyle or how they individually choose to pursue happiness, and that their vote was to bring morality back to our great nation. I think I read something somewhere like “judge not, lest ye be judged” and in that book judgement was reserved for one person only. I can’t remember where I saw that. But seeing so many with hateful words towards the unhoused, the poor, the immigrants makes me wonder – WWJD?

And for those that stood on the sidelines of this election with no other reason than there was no one or nothing in life that compelled the need or want to make a choice for any candidate, I leave you with this Irish proverb: May your bubble be warm, and your troubles be few, may we all live one day, with the privilege you do.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. —Martin Niemöller. This is the last line of the famous quote by Pastor Niemöller, a Lutheran clergyman who was a vocal antisemitic and Nazi sympathizer. He later became outspoken against Hitler’s regime, and was persecuted and jailed. Surviving WWII, he penned these words which have become immortalized at the United States Holocaust Museum, as an indictment against passivity and indifference.

Post Highlight: Each post I plan to highlight a podcast, a charity, a book or something that has made an impact on my life. That demonstrates that out of the worst of times, good can still find it’s way through, light through darkness. That kindness wins.