Hope
And Despair
Hope
And Despair
Hope
And Despair
And Hope…
And Hope…
And Action!
Hope and Action…

The first thing I noticed Wednesday Morning,
Was how Kind Everyone had become — all of a sudden.
I am a New Yorker.
We are not generally Unkind, but we are hurried people.
Many speculated that 11/9 was their quietest Subway Ride since the days that followed 9/11.
Yes!
But I noticed something else.
People were giving pause,
Stepping Back as the Subway Doors opened to allow Passengers off the train first.
I heard more “Please” and “Thank You” and “Excuse Me” spoken softly by folks around and about me than I had in a long time.
And somewhere deep inside, I knew right away that We Will Be OK.

Because it’s We the People
Who get to decide how we Live Together.
We are Empowered to Choose Love!
We are Empowered to Choose Peace!
We are Empowered to Choose Heart!
We are Empowered to Be with One Another!
And Create a Safe Space for All Citizens of our Country and our World!
We are Empowered to Make our Voices Heard!

We can Exercise our Right to Peaceful Protest
And Let the World Know that what happens in the Electoral College is not Always the Voice of the People!
We can Donate and Support the Causes in need of What we Can Offer!
You do realize that if you make a Donation to Planned Parenthood in MIKE PENcE’s name, he gets the Thank You Letter!

Office of the Governor Mike Pence
State House, Room 206
Indianapolis IN 46204-2797

We have the Power to Inundate Him!
Like the Courtroom Scene in MIRACLE ON 34^th Street!

Take a Moment to Look at this, and Just Imagine It:

We can Help One another!
We can Volunteer our Time!
We can Open our Eyes Wider
and See Even More Deeply into the Worlds of People of Color, Immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ People, Women, Jews and all People — even White Evangelicals who Voted for tRUMP.
It is in our Power to Forgive.
We can Effect Change by our Example!
We can stand up when we see someone being abused or attacked or marginalized and say, “Sorry. That is not OK!”
We can set Boundaries!
We can Build a Wall — a Magic Wall that lets People in,
But keeps out Racism, Bigotry, Xenophobia, and Misogyny —
And if every one of us Keeps those things Out of our World,
then they will likely be here in America a Lot Less.

We are clinging Now
To thin Hopes
Like the Electoral College changing their behavior of the past 230 years
And voting against their Districts’ Results on December 19^th
In favor of the Popular Vote.
Sure. I signed the petition.
But it is not likely to happen.
And it is not even necessary.

For we are Learning and Growing and Coming Together in So Many Ways!
We the People!

BARRY GOLDWATER, a Republican from Arizona, ran for President in 1964 on a platform of “Drop The Atomic Bomb!”
It was very similar to the Rabble Rousing we have heard for the past six months.
He Lost.
The Conservative Movement began to regroup, working at local levels… School Boards and Community Councils — until they gained enough clout to reach higher levels.
Let us learn from their Example.
This Year, we in the Progressive Movement came So Close to our First Woman President!
Due to the 115 Million or So Lazy-Ass Pathetic Eligible Voters who did not Vote,
We Lost.
It is time to ReGroup.
Work at Local Levels.
And Reach Higher Levels.
We can Do This!

The Progressive Movement is not over.
In fact, in the Last Four Days
(Can you Believe it has Only been Four Days!?)
(Is this the Longest Week of My Life or What!?)
It has Become Stronger than I have seen it in a Long Time!

It’s HeartBreaking because on Some Level, I thought we had made this Fight.
I guess I thought it would be smooth sailing from here on.
I guess I thought that was how it worked — You fight your Whole Life;
you get your first Person of Color for President,
And Access to Health Care for an additional twenty million Americans,
And Gay Marriage Rights,
And then your first Woman President, as well!
But that would not be America.

from THE COURSE IN MIRACLES

America is a Crucible.
It is our Wildly Different Points of View that Make Us Great.
Already Great! Not Great Again!
This Election is a SetBack.
It is a Large and Ugly One.
But it is not Insurmountable!

We survived RONALD REAGAN.
As a Gay Man in the Eighties he killed all my friends.
Then he was reelected.

We survived GEORGE W. BUSH.
The List of his Atrocities is too numerous to mention — but he did get us into the Iraq War, ordering the first pre-emptive American Military attack and creating the Largest Deficit in US History.

We will survive this.

HILLARY CLINTON won the Popular Vote
By More than 600,000 (That’s more than AL GORE won by), and still counting.
That statistic is Important
Because it shows that there are more people in this Country who disagree with the Racism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, and Relentless Bullying of tRUMP, than support it.

Let’s Take Responsibility!
Over 115 Million Eligible Voters did not Vote.
I want to believe that many of those people were against tRUMP’s Hate-spewing.
But they did not get off their ass and Vote against it.
SUSAN SARANDON, who has outlived her fifteen minutes, spewing that HILLARY CLINTON and DONALD tRUMP are exactly the same…
No, Ms. SARANDON. They are Not.
And now you will feel that difference.
You who felt that it wasn’t worth getting out and Voting for CLINTON.
You will see in this next four years the deadly effects of your apathy.
tRUMP is in the White House by your Election.
WILLIAM JAMES put it this way, many years ago:
“When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that in itself is a choice!”

And Now, we must all Live with your choice.
To Be Specific:
The number of Republican Voters in key Swing States was pretty much the same as it has been in the past two elections.
Trump Voters did not mobilize.
Republicans did not increase in numbers.
How does the saying go?
“All it takes for Evil to Triumph is for Good People to sit around and do nothing.”
That’s what happened.
Conservative numbers stayed the same.
Progressive numbers went down — CLINTON got nearly a Quarter Million Fewer Votes than OBAMA had in the 2012 Election
And so, the results of our own inaction are now evident.

So let us, the Liberal-Minded, take responsibility for our Group’s Inaction.
We elected him,
whether by complacency,
Or lack of education,
Or lack of Motivation.
And Now we have to deal with him.
But we cannot disavow that our movement is infected with Apathy.
We need to clean up our own house —
Take the plank out of our own eye before being able to see clearly to take the plank out of our brother’s.

And this Healing Has Begun
Occurring Now
And EveryWhere!
We are taking planks out of our Eyes
And taking to the Streets!
We are Lifting Up
And Donating
And Volunteering
And Helping!
We are Being Kind!
We are Creating the America that we Want to Be!
Every Action We Take Today
Every Word we Speak Today
Every Post we Share Today
Creates Today’s America.

I Teach
College Level Students.
On my way to Class this week, knowing that my Students would be devastated by the Election Results, I stopped into an Office Supply Store and bought five large rolls of White Kraft Paper, each 30 inches by 52 feet.
When I arrived in Class, I unrolled them all across the floor of the Studio.
I tossed out fifty Markers.
And I told them, “Have at It!”
I gave them a half hour to Write and Draw and Express themselves.
It was Rich and Rewarding and Fulfilling.
Exercise your Right to Express YourSelf!
Let us not step on anyone else’s Rights in the Process.
Let us Hear One Another’s Voices.
Let us LISTEN…
LISTEN to One Another!
Let Us Express!

One Student smiled and said, “This is So Very Much Just What I Needed!”
Another exclaimed, “I am So Happy Right Now!”
One Student from China reminded us how Lucky We Are, saying, “You know I was talking with my Chinese Friends, and we were saying, ‘Well, we don’t have these Problems in China because they don’t care what we think! We don’t get to vote and no one asks us, so we never have a bad election like this because we have no say in Government!’”

We are having, in many ways, Luxury Problems!
Most Importantly, we have the Right to Vote!
And in other Countries — in many Countries around the World —
People don’t have that!
We are the Luckiest People in the World!

And So, Have At It!
Write!
And Draw!
And Express Yourself…

SPEAK OUT!
And we have the help of Prophets, like STEPHEN COLBERT

And KATE MCKINNON

FEAR LESS!
ACT MORE!
FEAR LESS!
ACT MORE!
And HOPE…
And HOPE…
And ACTION!
HOPE and ACTION!
HOPE and ACTION!
HOPE and ACTION!

“And the Light shines on in the Darkness and the Darkness did not overcome it.”
John 1:5

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