Questions

We got some sleep.

Yesterday my wife and I texted more than usual. We discussed the mood at our places of employment and what to have for dinner. One thing we agreed upon was that we were both exhausted.

Ravioli, red sauce, red wine, and catching up on television shows. Last night was a pure escape. We laughed and it felt good. We slept and it felt better.

I'm still processing the impact of the election. I have no illusion that change will come. But I don't do well with unknowns so I go into the next few months with a knot in my stomach every day.

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It has been especially hard for me to keep off of Twitter. I create content and connect with a community all through the platform. While Twitter is wonderful and in some ways a comfort it has been nothing of the sort since the election was called. 

I still check it way too often. I check it looking for an answer. 

I check it in the hope that a leader has emerged that will help guide us to the next election.

There is a movement forming - I can see that - but there are so many questions. So much blame.

How did this happen? What did the Democrats do right? What did they do wrong?

Did they do anything wrong? They won the popular vote after all.

Should we sympathize with the other side and work with them or rise up as a defiant force?

What can I do to protect my friends who do not have privilege?

What can I do to protect my family when we become the target?

Will we make it?

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These questions do not have answers yet. There have already been too many words written over these and more. I am writing this to give myself direction. I hope it helps.

I will continue to use my position of privilege as someone who inhabits a white male body to help those who do not have the same status as me.

I will look for ways to get involved and give my time and resources when I can.

I will care.

I do not look to members of the Democratic Party who have said they will do their job with any disdain today. When one side has gone eight years by being an obstruction I look to the other to be a beacon of how things should be done on the job. That being said I find the final phrase of Sanders' statement to be telling. 

I stand with the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. 

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The truth is that there is no one answer. We of course want one because our world has been driven into a binary world view when in fact we are multitudes. 

One day there will be a textbook that describes what happened and it will be insufficient. Maybe the more advanced edition will go into details. The cause of the Civil War was slavery. The cause of the Civil War was the result of industry. Both are true and neither are false.

There is not one answer.

There is not one answer on how to move forward but to everyone on the same side of the aisle as me I say let's get it all out of our system.

Let's ask the questions and have discourse and learn. Let's argue with each other today and the other side tomorrow. Let us find our voices.

We are multitudes, but we can also be one.