Oh, sweetheart. Here’s how I do it.
I don’t know if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan like I am. But when Frodo tells Gandalf that he wishes he weren’t alive to see such times, Gandalf tells him that it isn’t for him to decide. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us,” he says.
And that’s true. No one asked to be born in Syria as an ideal safe space to grow up right now, but they were, and they have hope. Japanese Americans didn’t ask to be born here in the WWII era, and be herded into camps, but they kept hope, and now we see them thriving everywhere. It’s very difficult in the wake of something like this happening for us to have any sense of perspective, because people are frightened and angry and for many, this type of national debacle has never happened to THEM personally before. Or worse, they’ve already experienced racism or bigotry or sexual abuse, and they fear more frequent and severe attacks coming. But people have faced similar circumstances to this before, all over the world. People have faced these circumstances here in America since its founding. We aren’t starting over. Don’t for a second think that. The progress we’ve made, the advances in equality, the freedoms we’ve won through sweat and blood and tears? We’ve tasted them. We know our power. We know we can stand up to tyranny and hate. We’ve already done it. No one can ever take that away from us.
The way to keep hope alive is by looking inside yourself and understanding that just by asking the question, you are a good person and you want to be on the right side of history and social justice. You keep hope alive by knowing that hundreds of thousands stand with you. And what we do now, after we’ve rekindled our hope, is to work to help others. Anyone who needs us. We must be there for them. I for one don’t care whether it’s marching in protest or hiding a Muslim family in my basement. According to the means you have, every day, work to stop this.
That doesn’t have to mean money–more important, it can mean time. When you have it. If you’re able, volunteer for your local battered women’s shelter. If you’re worried about the environment, try to be more careful about waste. Tell your online friends that you love them and will listen when they are frightened. Tell your family that you will fight for people’s rights.
The President Elect can take things away from us, but he can NEVER take our hope. And he can never take what we do with that hope. Trust me. And treat yourself kindly.
