Yesterday we woke up to something blowing through the branches of my young trees. Being well beyond judgment by that point, I could have sworn I heard the question, “The winds of change?”
Last night as I went to sleep, it began to rain for the first time since last spring. I remained wary of the sign, reluctant to count on anything, trying with my wildly firing neurons to create the outcome I wanted. Create? Enforce? Enchant? The anxiety of superstition.
But today it’s done. Today is for breathing, crying a little, group chatting with friends and family, and for coming here to say I feel love for and in this community.
Way back when the marches in Charlottesville happened, I participated in my first demonstration ever. I made a sign. “End Racism Now,” I wrote, “Redeem the American Dream.” Naive but heartfelt. In the run-up to this election, I phonebanked in Pennsylvania. It was SO hard, I frankly hated it, it gave me outright heart stutters, but was better than sitting in fear on my sofa in quarantine.
Now I feel no rancor. I am only suspended in hope like honey and overflowing with desire to do more. To keep working. I think it’s clear, what needs to happen. No need to list it here for you; you also know.
Apparently the Mayor of Paris tweeted, “Welcome back, America!” Welcome back, indeed. Now let’s make it real. And, because our job as privileged white humans is always to give voice to people of color, even when they are famous people of color who speak to millions of people every day, here’s Van Jones upon hearing the news of our President-elect. Can anyone really watch this and not feel some joy and warmth in their heart? I’m saying “heart” way more than I used to.
“Well, it’s easier to be a parent this morning,” Van Jones reacts to election outcome news through tears. #bidenharis2020 pic.twitter.com/46umGHKEUi
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 7, 2020
I hope all of you have a good weekend. And, letting go of my language constraints and tendencies towards the crystalline for a moment, that the veritable tide of hate, like garbage on a hissing wave, recedes from our every shore.
31 Responses
There were tears of joy at our house and a real sense of hopefulness.
@Susan D., I am so glad.
Oh, my dear friend across the border: I am so happy for you and your compatriots (yes, even for the ones who don’t recognize that this result will be good for them too, ultimately). So gratified for the work you did to keep the best of your country’s values in play. . . and the work I know you’ll keep doing toward correcting its flaws.
And thank you for this doozy of a post ;-)
(my own sobbing caught me by surprise — I expected to be joyful and relieved, but the posts in my Instagram feed of women, especially BIPOC women, celebrating having a female BIPOC VP — Wow! Glass raining down from a ceiling long impregnable. . .
@Frances, What a wonderful image. That we would stand in the middle of a shower of glass and only sparkle, not bleed. Thank you. And here’s to traveling again, in each other’s direction. xoxox.
Congratulations! I am very happy for you and your country. Thank you for posting that video, which brought tears to my eyes.
I wish you joy in your continuing work, now that you can go with the flow, and not against it.
@Eleonore, Thank you! It will be wonderful to be helping, not fighting.
I am so tired of the “privileged white person” assumption. I am white and I am poor. I’m about to have lifesaving surgery only because a hospital gave me 100% financial aid.
I literally was told by two insurance brokers I could not purchase insurance through the ACA because my income was too low. And my state did not expand Medicaid, so I didn’t qualify under that. Even if I had qualified, I wouldn’t have been able to use it till January 2021, though my doctor said my surgery can’t wait that long.
Lisa, I don’t think you truly believe that white people like me exist, at least not in great numbers, going by your Twitter comments. Doubt you even have friends who are working class, though that doesn’t stop you from making proclamations about their beliefs.
Just because you are privileged and white, doesn’t mean everyone who is white is privileged. Maybe get out of your bubble more?
Hello Friend,
Privilege is not exclusive to finances. Its a piece of the puzzle.
@Big Sigh, “White privilege” does not ignore poor and working class white people, but is just a recognition that we are all part of a system based on racism. I am very sorry about your medical issues and problems getting the care you need, and I hope that your surgery goes well. I worked for and donated to Bernie Sanders, who is a very strong advocate for people in your position. Among other things, he advocates for Medicare for All (which is NOT extending the current Medicare system to all ages, but a completely new system as specified in Sanders’ Senate bill and Jayapal’s House bil).
@Big Sigh, I understand you feel badly. I am sorry you are suffering. I will say that I was recognizing my own white privilege, not assuming that every one else would do the same. I will also say that I support expanding Medicare and Medicaid, increasing the minimum wage, and making sure that the American dream evolves to mean we support all our citizens in a baseline of care. But, I cannot ignore the centuries of suffering that people of color have endured, and the structures of our system that make their way out of suffering so difficult.
Acknowledging the suffering of one shouldn’t mean negating the suffering of another.
@Big Sigh,
I cannot be more proud of you for speaking your truth!…Unity will only be achieved when people stop the vitriol directed at certain groups who they judge as “Racist” “Deplorable” and lacking in Character and Integrity because they accuse them of looking down at those who “Look Different” …What scares me is the endless spewing of venom targeted at those very groups from people who pontificate about their own Ideology and thus look down at those who “Think Different”…
I am not here to dash the dreams of our Wonderful Country to be the best that we can be but rather hope we ALL go forward with our eyes wide open and ears to the ground…AND STOP THIS BASHING OF OUR OWN PEOPLE BY INDIVIDUALS IN HIGH PLACES OF LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE…WHAT A SHAME TO STOOP TO THAT LEVEL!
Lisa, Thank you for your eloquence, which I always know I can find on (most) Saturday mornings. The Van Jones clip was very moving. Even though much work remains to be done, I feel a great sense of relief that at least we’ve avoided the abyss, at least for now. Working and donating for GA runoffs now.
@Marie, Thank you. Donating to enable the organizers in Georgia is awesome. Let’s move just a little further away from that abyss xoxox
Also feeling no rancor, only hope, hope, hope.
No words, just .
It did not print my two blue hearts….
I so wish my blog could do emojis! I should fix that:). Blue heart back to you.
When a friend sent me “the” text this morning, I heaved a long, audible sigh: I’d been holding my breath for four years.
From a proud Pennsylvanian, thank you for volunteering, Lisa. I know how hard it is to make those calls.
“that the veritable tide of hate, like garbage on a hissing wave, recedes from our every shore.” Amen.
I hope and believe and celebrate with you from Australia. There is hope for this world yet.
What a relief. I couldn’t bring myself to make phone calls, but over the last several months I wrote postcards, texted, answered questions on the PA Dems voter hotline, and on Election Day worked a 15-hour shift in the PA Dems boiler room to provide legal support to poll observers. Every time I felt like stopping some wonderful woman, whether Michelle Obama or Kamala Harris or a friend, inspired me to keep going. And now I’ve already signed up to do much of the same for the GA Senate runoffs. I need to do what I can to make this a better world for all of us, including @BigSigh.
This is overdue! God bless America and all of its people.
Luci
I’m feeling such an overwhelming sense of relief, seasoned with some apprehension for the next several weeks. But yes, decency seems to have prevailed for now, and I’ll take it.
I wonder if Kate McKinnon will sing “Hallelujah” in a happier key tonight on Saturday Night Live? (remembering her on SNL the Saturday following the 2016 election…_).
Well, I will just write, in the happiest key possible: HALLELUJAH !!!
And now our work begins.
Congratulations from New Zealand. I think you all have a long road ahead but those first steps have been taken to reclaim your democracy, your soul and your place on the World stage. Warts and all, and let’s face it you weren’t perfect, we have really missed you. We have certainly feared for you. We have feared for us too and the planet we all live on. For many of us prior to this last president you were generally seen as the good guys. Welcome back. The world feels a little bit lighter.
Sometimes we just get it right. Now we can all breath.
Time to breathing again indeed! Congratulation and love!
Dottoressa
“Being a good person matters.” We can breath again.
My soul is experiencing a lightness of being it has not enjoyed for awhile.
I love that you share real thoughts on this blog! Thank you.
I too felt the call to get involved in this election. Never had in my 28 years as a voter. Postcards and a drive to rural rPA for GOtV.. Residents (Dems) experienced & witnessed voter suppression.
It was upsetting to learn how many can go along with DJT given his lack of ethics.
I live 6 miles due north of the White House. If there are any conservatives, they are closeted. So, on Saturday at 11:30 the sounds were horns, hoots, bells were overwhelmking- gave you the chills, moved to tears.
Finally some hope!
The speeches Satur day were fantastic. The real work begins. We’re fired up! Ready for 2021
Thanks for making me cry everybody…beautiful sentiments expressed here.
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