Hopeful with a Jaundiced Eye... Or How to Live in Love Anywhere, Anytime

My Darlings. 

I have written to you on some dark days. Hopefully this will not, in the end, prove to be one of them. Hopefully this will just be a punchline in American history one day. Or maybe something of benefit will come to us from this day. My fear, however, and the fear of others, is that this may be the day we had to start looking at our feet and being careful what we say and whom we say it to. Yet for you, my darling young ladies, I write and speak as I am accustomed to. 

Now there will be some who will think this reaction to yesterday's election is dramatic or maybe even ridiculous. What I want to record for you on this day is that many people, including myself, are in a state of surprise and experiencing a period of mourning. Not everyone. Just under half of the people in America. Hilary Clinton was going to be the first woman president yesterday, but now she is not. Many people chose her and a few more that that chose the other. 

Now I am sure there are people that I know who did vote for Mr. Trump and perhaps they have an idea of what kind of person would vote for Hilary and why. Due to the nature of this campaign and some of the rhetoric of Mr. Trumps followers... well let us just say they probably do not think very highly of me. Well, I cannot speak for anyone but my own self in this world. One day, you will decide for yourselves and see the world with your own eyes and through your own experiences as well. G-d willing you will be permitted to share your thoughts and ideas freely and without repression. 

I am someone, as fortune would have it, who has to pay quite a bit in taxes. I do so with pride and a sense of duty. I am grateful to live in a place of fine public services - schools, libraries, paved roads and public health for our elderly and our poor. It is not perfect but it is really something. I believe we should do more. Our planet is dying because of corporate and individual selfishness and greed. We must do more for the environment and now. And I believe in a woman's right to choose pregnancy. I believe our gun laws are not strong enough and those that are there need to be more effectively enforced.

 What I think of as commons sense (so-called liberal ideas) grows from the very experience of my family. My great grandmother, Ella, for whom one of you was partly named, lived in a time of desperation - she had no right to choose to terminate a pregnancy and had the misfortune of unreliable husband. She could not feed another mouth. She ended up dying after approximately a year of suffering from infection and illness from an illegal and dangerous abortion. Years later, her eldest son, my grandfather, a veteran of 3 wars for this country was killed along with his wife and youngest child - they were the victims of incomprehensible gun violence and I never had a chance to meet them. So yes, you can call me a bleeding heart liberal if you want, I don't really care. I see the world as a place I am responsible to speak out for a woman's right to have safe medical care and for all of us to be safe from death by gun violence in our own homes.

In addition to this, the new president embraced a platform during his campaign that encouraged hatred, allowed racism and was full of lies down to the last night when he claimed a celebrity had voted for him that had not cast his ballot yet. Nor do I forget he is the same man who feels he has the right to grab a woman's genitalia when he feels the urge to do so. (I cannot think of anything more opposite to electing a woman president). Not to mention I have paid a thousand percent more in taxes than he may ever. Your welcome for the roads Mr. President.

So how do I see life evolving over the next 4 years? All of those progressive measures, issues I care about deeply, may be reversed. If Mr. Trump does as he promised, he will reverse these measures. How do I live in peace today and reconcile the election yesterday and the potentially dangerous times ahead? Do I live in fear for your future? Not exactly.

Two things: First, I truly and deeply believe that there is a loving G-d, who loves all of us. The most amazing components of Love are it cannot be chained, does not know a glass ceiling and can be given freely. It lives in us and through us. It is not a feeling it is a fact and a gift. My darlings, even if someone lets you down, love can be your light in dark times. On this note I wish to impart to you to keep your eyes out on the world around you to see what you may bring to it but that change, service, integrity and Love start within. The world around you does not have to dictate how much or how little love you give to the world. This love may grow out from your corner of the world and beyond. Every loving kindness has the possibility of multiplying beyond your sight. Be kind, be Loving. Be a vessel of G-d's infinite kindness and a demonstration of his Love. A rabbi once remarked that while the 2nd temple was destroyed by groundless hatred, perhaps the 3rd temple will grow out of groundless Love. Something to think about.

With a loving eye I see that, with the exception of a few fanatics - (there will always be sociopaths - those that cannot know Love) - most of the other half of America are regular people. They just want to do the right thing for their corner of the world and that which they see beyond them. And they think Mr. Trump is the path to the changes they believe will be best. I do not think the average person wants to round up everyone in the North East that voted for Hilary and ship us to the other side of the Mexican wall they mean to build. But we have to be careful here - history teaches us that bad things have happened when even a slight majority have favored a language of hate. 

This brings me to the second thing, and this is important.  While I will say that I will not give up hope I am not a fool. Our new president ran a campaign of hate-mongering, whatever he says now. And he has vowed to reverse and tear down institutions that I believe in and that I believe make us great. He shows no signs of doing anything I would personally believe would be good for our country or our world in regards to health care, gun laws or the environment. More concerning is the rise in the world tide of racism and the fact that he had embraced that. The Turkish government is rounding up opposition leaders and carting them off to jail. Russians have to watch what they say and to whom they say it. While in America where we have a president and not a tyrant, we have been free to oppose, to argue, to banter. We must continue to be the change that we want to see. At least half of America (or just under it) will have our backs and I think most of the others will too. We need to speak up, speak out and protect each other. And there is my hope. We Americans just want what is best and have all kinds of different ways of seeing the path to get there.

But we cannot be fools about it - I heard a woman at work say last night, "What harm can one person do? I mean, one person cannot bring us all to ruin." How many have said that throughout time? How many in the early 1930's in Berlin said the same? How much harm can one man do after winning a election with a marginal majority? Indeed. 

So what I would say to you both is that we keep speaking, we keep writing, we keep loving each other, even loving those we do not agree with. We approach the world with loving kindness in action and in our hearts. We do not succumb to hate or even tolerate it. Most of all we do not engender hate ourselves.  

So is this a dark day? I do not know. But I have spent today trying to give you my Love, treat those I encounter with respect and honor. And here is hoping for the best.

I love you my angels....
Yours always,
Mama