I appreciate Lisa Renee’s latest post — Stop Trusting Megalomaniacs — for what she chose not to say directly about our current president… but I appreciate Kate Rose’s courage here, too…

 

He may live in the White House, and he may even pass a few laws or bills — but my country, the one that I am proud to be a part of, will never become his.

He won’t understand this, and that’s because he doesn’t understand love; he doesn’t understand that being in charge of this country doesn’t mean he is going to silence the voices of those who have seen his truth from the start.

Trump lives in this country, but he doesn’t truly see it.

He doesn’t see that it’s the women of this nation who give it its diverse originality.  He doesn’t see the beauty in having races work, live and love together — and beyond the boundaries of what was previously deemed “socially acceptable.”  He can’t appreciate the look in the eyes of a child who lives here now, safe as a political refugee.

He doesn’t see that we are created, and grown from hope, to create a better world.  The thing is though, even Trump can’t stop that — it just means that we have to step it up.

This is a call to my brothers and sisters, those who believe in their hearts that doing the right thing is the only option; those who feel called to leave the world a better place than they found it.

The truth is that we are this country, and it is us alone who make this country great.

We are the people, we are the love, and we are the vision of our nation.

I’m not going to let the thoughts and actions of one very opinionated, hateful man determine how my next four years will play out, because I am going to just keep spreading the love.

I am going to keep pushing for racial equality and breaking outdated gender roles.

I am hoping to keep moving forward in the pursuit of my own soul’s evolution — and by doing that, I hope, just maybe, to inspire others to do the same.

I’m going to choose to see the good — in others, in this nation and in life — but I will never accept this man as my president, because I don’t think he truly represents us.

Trump is the shadow side, the side that so many of us have fought to overcome for decades in the face of oppression, and now our nation has chosen fear once again.  I cried when I first heard that this man had captured the presidency, because the thought of him being in charge of my nation terrifies me.

But if I let that fear take over, and I begin to change the way I think or do things, then that is what really lets him win.

So instead, I’m going to do just the opposite — I’m going to keep living, just as I have been.

I’m choosing to believe that, in the end, goodness will win; and while hate, racism and sexism may still be alive in this country, it doesn’t mean that I will ever change my actions because of it.

Trump is only one man — he is not as powerful as the collective.

So, while he may be sworn into office in January, it’s not really him who represents the United States of America — it’s all of us.

It’s the refugees from Cambodia, the third-generation immigrants from Ireland, the descendants of slaves, and the blood of those first Native Americans who walked on this blessed soil so many moons ago.

We are the United States of America, and it is within all of us that I put my trust.

 

“No matter how educated, talented, rich or cool you believe you are, how you treat people tells all.  Integrity is everything.”  ~Unknown