This is Why

Donald J. Trump has been elected President of the United States of America.

There I acknowledged it.

It’s always been a struggle for the loosing party accept the results. I’ve been a member of both parties over periods of time over the past 14 years and have been on both wining and losing sides. We invest such a large amount of times, energy and heart into elections, it only makes sense it takes time to accept the results.

Every election has had the losing party voice their concern and dismay at the victor. Every election has had a dip in the markets after Election Day. Every election has had dirty politics and secrets revealed. Every election has played mind games. And ultimately after every election the country eventually comes together to move forward.

But the 2016 election changed not only U.S. politics and leadership. It changed approach. It became personal.

“Grab them by the pussy”

“Deplorables”

“Nasty woman”

“Look at that face”

“They’re rapists”

It took the essence of an individual, their identity, their views and their life journeys became what we debated this election within the context of domestic and global issues.

The worth of an immigrant. The value of women. The legitimacy of LGBTQ people. The experiences of sexual assault victims. The cost of colored lives. The lives for those with difference priorities. The knowledge of college vs non-college educated people. The beliefs of those with different perspectives. The morals of people different than yourself.

This is why the hurt is deep. This is why there is fear. This is why BOTH sides have dug in their heels. This is why there are protests. This is why it hurts even more that the Electoral College superceeded the Popular Vote.

There are many reasons being put out there why President-Elect Trump shouldn’t be President and why Hillary Clinton or even Bernie Sanders should be.

But at the end of the day, you can learn to be President. You can learn to run a country. You can learn politics. You can learn leadership. You can learn everything to become President of the United States to keep us moving. You can work to fix the party system. You can work to fix or abolish the Electoral College.

What you can’t learn is how to erase the hurt and harm we ALL have done to each other. You can’t learn how to put the veil back over the divide that has been revealed about the people of this nation. You can’t re-hide the ugliness and hatred that has become evident of the American people.

This is why we still cry. This is why we still hurt. This is why we still fear, days after the election.

Just some thoughts as I continue to process the past 72 hours.

Until next time,

Peace, Love and Pandas!