I Choose Hope

The 2024 US Election was held just over a week ago. I’m disappointed that the elections didn’t go the way I preferred. Regardless of what one thinks of the President-elect, he is undoubtedly a divisive figure.

It is healthy to have different perspectives on policy. However, this only works when everyone is willing to work together and move forward. The current discourse seems to suggest otherwise.

The hate from the winning side continues to grow. The incoming administration is bucking political norms and taking what appear to be radical, if not destructive, steps.

The fear is also growing: fear of what is to come, fear of job loss, fear of healthcare loss, fear of deportation, fear of rights deprivation, and more. But the fear isn’t only from the losing side.

Some of the fear comes from members of the winning side, who are just starting to understand the differences between Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act or how tariffs work.

I wish the fears hadn’t impacted me directly, but they have. In particular, my spouse is concerned about family planning and whether we should move to a new part of the country or even out of the country.

Quelling the desire to shake people and tell them how wrong they are, I remember Steven Covey’s fifth habit: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. I then have to admit that I haven’t done as much listening or understanding as I could have.

Recently, I remembered a portion of the speech at the end of The American President (1995):

America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ‘cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms.

Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.

— President Andrew Shepherd, The American President (1995)

I don’t know about singing, but I do know about hard work. In my meditations, I remind myself that nothing drastic has happened yet. Sure, some fears may be realized. But rather than falling into a “what if?” tailspin, I focus on contingency planning and ask myself how I can affect change in a positive way.

While I am disappointed about the election outcome and am bracing for what could come, I’m holding on to hope that there will be others to help fight for our advanced citizenship.