Arrival and Departure

Sounds like an airport, I know. We are always leaving the past and arriving in the future. But what if we didn't hang out in the chairs by the gate, but lived fully in the moment that is neither behind us or ahead of us, but just now. Right now.

I have spent a lot of my mental energy since November 8th thinking about what is to come as a result of the election of Donald Trump to the highest office in the land. And it has been pretty debilitating at times. I cried myself to sleep on election night, and have broken down sobbing more times than I can count since then thinking about any number of outcomes (which I will not list because I'm sure you know what they are) that will affect people around the world, including my own family (but in truth I am pretty privileged). Even though Trump hasn't even taken office yet, people have suffered in the here and now, in very real and personal ways. Never has "bully pulpit" so literally referred to the office of the Presiden.

But the only time I can act is now. In this now I can plan, or I can cry, or I can pour another glass of wine, or eat another brownie, or post another article on Facebook hoping everyone will read it and understand. But it's the actual activities I have undertaken that have made me feel best - making donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU and Haven, going to the local meeting of the Democratic Party, writing a letter to the local Muslim Association to express my support, calling the offices of various politicians to protest Bannon getting anywhere near the reins of power, writing to the Town Manager asking that Durham (my home town) affirm immigrant-friendly policies that ensure the safety and security of students or others who might be in the country without proper documentation, but who have not committed any crime other than being born elsewhere to parents without connections. I even went to the Unitarian Church in Portsmouth last Sunday to find like-minded people and sit in communion with them. I NEVER go to church, but it was good to share time with good, open minded people.

I'm talking to people at work who voted for Trump, because honestly they are good people, too, and I want them to know that they are living in a diverse society that includes people who will be hurt by the policies that are going to come. I want to be the voice and the witness for those who don't have jobs at my company, who are in-visible to them. And I want to provide support to others to do that, too. Pantsuit Nation - do you know about it? It's a social media group comprised of people who support(ed) Hillary Clinton, who tell their stories from across the country about their neighbors and family members and co-workers and total strangers that are mean (or kind), hateful, (or righteously supportive). There are tens, maybe hundreds of millions of people who have made the choice to be HERE in this moment as strong, supportive, loving PRESENT humans. Others are painfully separated from what it means to be fully human, in communion with the rest of us, feeling a need to hate and separate because of some wrong that has likely been done to them. They too belong to the now.

I so want us all to be human together, in this moment, and in all those that will inevitably follow. If we acknowledge each other's truth, each other's experience, each other's pain and sorrow and joys and transcendences, then we will make a difference in the world. One day, one moment, one story at a time. Neither arriving, nor departing, but being right where we are, together.