A special Sunday(Wednesday) Night With John: The Emotional Election Hangover

The cloud of emotions will eventually dissipate from this election. Your happiness from your candidate winning, or your sadness from your candidate losing will fade. We will again enter back into our day to days lives trying to make sense of everything that just occurred and the big questions of why? Why did we elect a president who at times made racially incentive comments, and whole heartedly spewed sexist statements? Why did a major party nominate such a flawed candidate but would never acknowledge those flaws? Why was the population so angry at the political elite? Why, oh why, did we turn the Internet, which places knowledge a click away, a place that erupts false videos, reports, and click bait articles just about every second. We should be more informed about our candidates, and the political machine should be more informed about the electorate.  Yet so many are so baffled and only search out what strengthens their view. Why are we more steadfast in our opinions instead of  being flexible? Shouldn’t we be willing to change our minds? When did being a flexible thinker become a weakness? So here I sit the morning after the election confused and wondering what do I next?

But what I do next is a rhetorical question because I already know what I will do. The same thing I have done every day for the last 14 years; I will attempt to be a bridge for people who are struggling emotionally no matter the cause of their emotional pain. I will continue to argue with the educational elites that treating people of faith like they are stupid is wrong. I know many intelligent people who believe in a higher power. There is something noble in faith, I know because my mom’s faith saved my life. I will continue to argue with people of faith that they do not hold the moral high ground. Many people of faith lack anything close to morals; I know, I have seen them spew hatred toward others. No faith, no God allows for hate to be spewed toward others. I will continue to be an ally for my LGBTQ community because they are not lesser people and I believe everyone deserves the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Some of the most courageous inspirational people I know call this community home. I will continue to support the Black Lives Matter movement because I have witnessed institutional racism first hand. I will continue to support the police because I have witnessed how tough their job is. I also know I can support both that it’s not an issue or a problem where supporting both is not an option. I can hold the view I want less death and better treatment in our black communities, and I also want police to return safely to their families.  I will continue to stand up for the less fortunate, the homeless and mental health population because no matter their color, race or religion because I know mental health problems do not discriminate. There have been times in my life where I could only stand by the strength of others lending a hand.

I will engage Trump voters and ask them how do we heal this divide in our country? I will not call them names or blame them for voting for a man I disagree with because I’m not always right.  I will engage Hillary supporters and ask them what can we learn from her defeat? I will not rub it in their face they supported a flawed candidate because I’m a flawed man.  I will tell any third party voter anyone who tells you, “You wasted your vote,” is acting out of anger. We have an obligation to vote our conscious and if that is a third party candidate, vote away. It’s the responsibility of our candidates to earn our votes, maybe both major parties have forgotten this.  I will not pigeon hole anyone into a false duality of there just being two choices. I always tell myself there are more than two choices. I will not delete anyone from facebook or move from America, because my life is better with diversity and being surrounded by people from all walks of life. I will not boil this election down to one or two things because America is a complicated place with complicate issues driven by our complicated history.

I believe this election has shown the country a truer version of itself. We peeled back the glossy layers over political correctness. We have revealed ourselves to be more sexist than we thought, more racist than we thought,  more divided than we thought, more elitist than we thought, and way more emotional they we are willing to admit.  True healing can not begin until we have firm grasp on the problem.  Maybe this reveals the true depths of the problems. We stripped away all the shiny gloss that was distracting us.

We have some work to do America.  The funny thing is we knew there was work to be done but we kept ignoring it like most people ignore their high cholesterol. Ignoring a problem is almost as American as apple pie and fireworks. So as I begin my journey forward into the next presidency, I know we can no longer ignore the cultural, economical, and social problems we are facing. I will continue share emotions, because emotions matter (this election proved that). I will continue to tell stories with a meaning behind every one and work with conservatives, liberals, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Greens, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhist, Asians, Caucasians, African-Americans, Latinos and other demographics because helping people understand moments that have shaken us to our core is what I always want to be doing.

It might be more important to realize what I will not be doing after this election: turning to anger, hate, insults, and arrogance. I have seen what that side of my personality leads to and I will not be being returning to that version of me, ever! In the wise words of A Jedi “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” And I have made it my life’s mission to ease the suffering of those around me, that mission continues no matter who wins any election ever!