Okay, it's been a while. I'm not ready to look at social media in earnest, or talk about yesterday's election with anyone I love one on one, so I'm just pingponging around the places where my life takes place, trying to figure out the most productive way to process what's occurred. Looking for a comforting venue in which to receive terrible news, I guess. I hit on this stupid old word depository and thought that maybe it'd be helpful. For me. If you're not me YMMV. I took a long walk around downtown Minneapolis this morning before work, and this is what I shook out of my head:
It should surprise no one that as an American I dream of a very different future than the one we're now presented with. I am a liberal Minnesotan who came of age under Paul Wellstone, so I've always been fed (and joyfully consumed) the optimistic idea that I could be the change I believe in in this world. And that's great. I love living my best life and imagining I am inspiring others to do the same. But sometimes you're reminded that not everyone's best life is... well, the best. Sometimes the prevailing winds are ominous, and you have to accept that the zeitgeist is working against your vision. I was a bit blindsided by this election, because apparently many peoples' best lives are at odds with mine.
That's fine. But that doesn't mean they're right, and that doesn't mean they win. They will control the discourse for a bit, but we will regroup, and we will all get to weigh in again before long. When that happens, I expect most people will tell them we've decided to go in a different direction. However: In the meantime there will be real damage done to real people who you definitely know and love. These people will need you to be there for them. They will need to know that you see their anxiety, and that you have their backs. You will need to take real action to alleviate the damage inflicted by the prevailing winds. I realize this is all terrible, so here's a hopeful coda:
I accidentally started scrolling through LinkedIn this evening (becuase who ever goes on LinkedIn intentionally?), and I was seeing a lot of posts from old coworkers, from the last several months of me not checking the site, of happy shit about new opportunities. And I found myself actually saying aloud, alone in my kitchen, "good for her," or "oh that's great," or whatever. Many updates weren't even work related. And I think that may actually end up being my bandaid for this hurt. Everyone I saw still has something unrelated to and uneffected by the election that I can appreciate is happening for them. It's true we're all experiencing something large and awful, that will hurt a lot for a long time and be tough to get through. But we also all have at least something that we can be excited about, and that nothing beyond us can take away. I say this in no way to minimize the anxiety anyone is feeling, but just to amplify the excitement of something that makes you happy when everything else is at odds with what you're working for. I guess in these times I just have to cling to something joyful that can make me smile, and I would love the same for you. It doesn't even have to be something worth noting on an inane social-resume website.
Here for your consideration are just a few things that make me happy, that no elected official at any level of government can take away - feel free to comment with your own lists of pleasures or accomplishments:
- Watching summer waves on a lake from a cool shady spot on shore
- Antonín Dvořák's 9th symphony, especially the 1st and 4th movements
- The smell of vanilla, in either bourbon or pipe smoke
- Putting on a giant puffy coat for a two block walk to the bar for a beer, just to be out of the house in January when it's -5 degrees F
- Driving way too fast on a winding two-lane road through the bluffs of the Driftless Area
- Eating a pea pod directly off the vine in June, while tending the other vegetables