NaBloPoMo 2020 – Today’s Lesson
Four years ago I started experiencing contempt from some people. “Trumped That Bitch” and other pejoratives reverberated. Daughter asked earnestly if we, natural born citizens, would be deported. Random people asked me if I speak English, and people who look like me all across the country were yelled at, by total strangers, to go back to China. We have been verbally and physically assaulted with escalating frequency since then.
Today, my phone vibrated with celebratory text threads. Friend Unicorn labelled the experience a collective catharsis. That made me consider… “I hope we can be less vindictive than the other side was last time,” I replied. Friend Pegasus wrote back, “I believe we will be because the person leading will promote it.” Exactly. Leaders set the example. Character really matters. My friends and I feel soothed already, like we can finally take a breath and a pee break, refreshed for the next leg on the race toward progress. Kamala Harris’s and Joe Biden’s speeches tonight further lifted our hopes and enthusiasm for healing and reconciliation.
I thought of my conservative friends throughout the day and evening, wondering how they’re doing. I checked in with a few. Some expressed disappointment and grief. I can relate. I also remember worrying about and praying for the Obamas’ safety immediately after the Grant Park celebration in 2008, and still do today. Flashes of fear for Biden’s and especially Harris’s safety flared tonight.
74 days until transfer of power. Will it be peaceful? I believe we each have more agency over this than we think. Ignore agitators—give them no platform. Amplify and uplift the peacemakers. We’ve got serious work to do, together. Stay focused; allow no distractions. Go High—really—for all our sakes.
Healing Through Connection 
Cathy- I believe what you’re speaking to here is emblematic of the truest, hardest test that we will give ourselves now if we really wish to “go high”, which is: are we brave enough, kind enough, tough enough and determined enough to go high even when we have feared for our safety and the safety of our families, friends and neighbors? Your work here answers with a resounding “yes” and I think that’s about as bad-ass as one can get. Thank you for commitment to these ideals.
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Thank you Nicole!! Feel free to comment here anytime! 🤪 *sigh*
I saw someone write yesterday that we should now beware the words of the abuser now—asking for reconciliation, but without apology or accountability for harm done and then reacting in anger when we refuse to play nice and demand that our needs be met. I started to worry that my calls for reconciliation would be construed this way. Then I thought, sure, taken out of context, anything can be twisted. I am confident that anyone who knows me well would not label me as an abuser. But it does make me think twice and consider how my words and ideas could be taken differently from how I intend. And that, I suppose, is part of the practice we’re talking about, right? 🤔 Thanks again, Nicole! 👊🏼💪🏼👍🏼🖖🏼
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