Emotions are running high in the U.S.A.; like a tsunami of satisfaction on the Red-side and despair on the Blue-side. Make no mistake, Donald Trump won resoundingly. No one is seriously questioning it. What does this say about our country, our communities, and individuals?
Trump is the shadow-self of America: hateful, incurious, controlling, and also instinctive and bold. This is a man who is a convicted felon, who self-reports that he is a sexual creep, and he’s a well-known crook who has been bankrupt many times.
And still he rises.
Darkness rises just as easily as light.
It is not time for opponents of Trump’s dark vision of America to give up hope, but it is time to give in to reality.
We are not as good as we think we are. We are not as kind, open-minded, and hopeful. We are all blind to how our actions can cause suffering for others. We are all ignorant to the fact that our “good intentions” can be a form of self-righteous blundering. The degrees of our short-comings vary, however, we all have them. Trump leans in to his, he relishes them, and he gives permission to nearly a hundred million people to do the same.
One person cannot and will not be the remedy to what ails our spiritually sick country. There is no rescuer on the way. Many hoped Kamala Harris would be that savior, but she clearly was not. It was never fair to expect her to be. She is a talented and brilliant public servant, but she is not the antidote to what poisons American.
To be the America that we used to dream of becoming, we must go back to the roots of the Civil Rights Movement. We must become the Beloved Community envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King, and further developed in concept by Thich Nhat Hanh. We must develop our communities with responsibility for the vulnerable, accountability for those who do harm, and love of each person. Each individual is precious, and fits into the larger whole, connected by mutual respect.
It is time for a non-partisan revival of the American Spirit. It is time to call out our individual hatred and fear, and also our shared self-righteous blindness to the suffering and struggle of our neighbors. These are dark and turbulent times, but in every crisis there’s an opportunity for rebirth and healing.
“When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.” -Thich Nhat Hanh
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