Pinch Me.

There isn’t anything new to say, but for eight hours now I’ve simultaneously been feeling empty and filled with resounding, hopeless thoughts. So, I write.

My disappointment has nothing to do with party loyalty or a broken heart for Hillary. I was never a huge fan of hers, nor of Obama’s. It’s hard to find a perfect candidate, and Lord knows there wasn’t one this November. I know that people see Hillary as a crooked liar, but what is Trump? 

At this point, it's over. I’m simply sad. It’s hard to find the words to express my disappointment in the American political system, the lack of education of our public, and more than anything, the cesspool of hate that has been breeding in recent years. 

I’m simply afraid. Our new president-elect is known for his odious, ignorant comments toward social minorities. I fear for racial, religious, and sexual minorities, as well as my fellow women. I’m sad that we continue to be a nation free from female representation, a nation that ignores the needs of more than half of the population. I’m sad that we are controlled by the privileged, and that we don’t have a voice.

I simply don’t understand why a woman with a lifetime of experience lost to a man with none. It makes me feel hopeless because his persona exemplifies everything we tell ourselves and our children not to be. He is crass; he is unkind; he is self-absorbed; he is rude; he is ignorant; he is immature; he is spiteful. 

Source: The New York Times

How did we let this happen? How many people will suffer now, within and outside our national borders? Children at the school where I teach confessed today that they are scared because “Donald Trump doesn’t want to help South Korea anymore.” How many countries will his unfiltered, reckless discourse of “telling it like it is” upset, and how many international disputes will he start? How many domestic travesties await us? How many rights will he take from the humans in our nation? This isn’t about party. This is about humanity.