I didn’t really write about the American election. Honestly, I have friends and relatives who voted for both candidates. I have never let politics influence who I care about. Nothing is more important than the people in your lives.
But the out come is the outcome. I think now what we need to do as a nation is simply grow up. Start adulting as the young’uns say.
Has the Earth stopped rotating? Has the moon fallen from the sky? Have the birds stopped singing? Has cancer been cured? Have all wars suddenly stopped? Have the hostages held in gaza been released? Since this a big “NO” to all, then there is still work to be done to make this a better world.
Has your ability to use your intelligence to try to resolve these issues changed because you don’t like the outcome of an election? No it has not.
As I told my sons. If you don’t like the outcome then join organizations or groups who represent the issues of import to you and see how you can help. Get involved. Stop waiting for someone else to do the hard work. Be the adult in the room. Take responsibility and work to fix what you believe needs fixing.
The problem that you have is that so many think that the answer is the federal government. But its not and has never been. The country is simply too big. If you take a look at how the federal government does parcel out support, you see that it is done by state. Even if you look at FEMA, the federal government only intervenes if the governor of a state asks for help.
So when they say all politics is local this is actually how we function.
Don’t think that you have to work in DC and be part of a huge lobby organization. If your issue is climate change, see what your local town can do to help. Our local community banned gas powered leaf blowers. It sounds silly, but every little bit helps.
If you are worried about hate, see what local chapters of any anti-hate group is in your area and get involved with them. See how you can spread the message either in local religious groups or even if you can influence the school board to have a program like something the ADL has put together. (Personally not a big fan of the ADL, but they do have this program that seems to piss off all the right people.)
If your issue is democracy, work for a local candidate or volunteer in your local government. If you want your day to day to be better, see what needs help in your town and volunteer for a community committee of interest.
If you are concerned about homelessness, you can still volunteer at a soup kitchen or a food pantry.
Simply because your candidate did not win doesn’t mean any of these issues goes away.
There is so much that you can still do as an individual in your day to day life, that this caterwauling about the end of the world as we know it rings hollow. There is no magic wand or unicorn fairy dust that will fix everything simply because a particular candidate has won or lost.
The truth is an adult gets off their ass and does something about the world around them. That is what you need to do the day after and the day after that and the day after that….
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Absolutely based; pleasure to read!
Exactly. There’s plenty of work to do. No sense being a catastrophist.