After the November 8 election, Prince Ea said he was happy Trump won. Happiness is not my first response to the result. But I agree with him when he says Trump's election is a symptom that our country is sick.
So what do we do when a loved one is sick? Do we holler at the sick person and blame him for his sickness? No. We find it within ourselves to offer tender loving care as we search for a cure. Or maybe there is no cure, but we could develop a vaccine to inoculate us against the ravages of conflict and injustice. A Trump vaccine.
So what goes into this vaccine? In my yoga training, I am learning that I and everyone else creates their own reality. Part of that is admitting that I help create a less than hospitable reality, one that creates and reinforces conflict and injustice. My work as a yoga teacher, spouse, mother, daughter, sister, friend, fellow citizen is to counter this with as much concentration on love and goodness as I can muster and act on.
To stand up to an anti-truth, anti-fact totalitarian like Trump and the people he surrounds himself with is going to take a lot more than sweetness. To paraphrase a line from a Talking Heads song (I'm a fanatic), aptly named "Television Man," the world has crashed into many of our living rooms.
In addition to fun, '"m more than a little willing to fight the disease afflicting our country with a little shade and a little fire. Good people can't let Trump and his cronies redefine our country in ways that suit him and other gazillionaires and wannabe gazillionaires. I'll add news from experts, journalists and media figures to my posts.
Trump brags about how he builds things. All I see is how he's planning to tear things down. The social safety net. A free press. Free speech for everyone, not just a Twitter-happy president-elect. Environmental controls. Banking and finance regulations. Progress toward racial, gender and religious equality. Educational parity. Voting rights. Public safety for all, not just privileged white people. These are all things that make our country great, and those of us who agree need to stand up and say so, and not let this election appear to be consent to dismantle what generations before us have fought for.
In an interview with Charlie Rose, social commentator and comedian Jon Stewart said all our rights and privileges have always been a fight. There have always been people in power who want to chip away at them, saying they're too expensive, or certain groups don't deserve "special" protections.
Holding the line on keeping these rights and privileges for everyone will take courage. Let's throw that into the Trump vaccine as well.
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