Elections, effects, and not so great feelings

I need to say some things,

I want to preface this by saying that these are just my thoughts and feelings and I will not be starting a dialogue with anyone about who, what, where, or when is better…
Normally I stay out of political things, I might tweet or post a status about such things every so often but that’s about it. I used to love to get involved in spirited discussions about politics in high school but that is not what I do anymore, no one stays sane when discussing opposite political viewpoints and chances are that neither of us will end up changing the other’s mind when all is said and done.

The reason I’m posting this is because I had a weird experience the other day and it was enough to bother me because things like that never happen to me. P.S. excuse my grammar.

Okay. Recent events have been somewhat of a shocker, no one foresaw the outcome of the election and the way it ended up worries me.

Now I am not saying I loved the Clinton option either but I don’t think that what happened the other day would have happened had she won.

Everyone on social media has been going ballistic, from “Yay, bye bye anyone that is not a white straight male.” To “I’m moving to Canada.”

There is also much hate, from both sides, this is disturbing because those who opposed Trump opposed him on the basis of choosing love and tolerance etc. The ability to be yourself no matter what religion, race, or sexual orientation but after Trump won, many of these people (the ones opposing) have been posting an overwhelming amount of “f*ck yous” and other such charming things to the side that elected Trump. They are saying hate won, and it did, on both sides. One side already supported hate: the separating and oppression of peoples different than themselves. The other side moved to that side when the election had been won, and in so doing, lowered themselves to the level the other side had already sunk to. That makes me so horribly sad, neither side can claim to be better than the other, there is now, no basis for claiming one side supports love and the other doesn’t; both sides have now become as bad as each other.

Remember, all of these things are based on what I have been seeing on social media.

There are those of you who say that you don’t support Trump’s apparent xenophobia and dislike for the lgbtq people, and maybe he was only saying all those things for shock value, maybe he’ll be able to fix the economy. I understand where you are coming from, maybe he can fix the economy, I can’t predict the future; that is not the point.
The point is that there are many of you who have friends of all different colors, religions, and sexual orientations and yet you voted a man who doesn’t care about these people, your friends, at all. Are you concerned about them? Have you promised to stand with them if our new president decides to make rules that are discriminatory towards them?
You did?
Why the heck did you cast a Trump vote then?
Our system will keep him in check?
You know what would have kept him in check?
Not winning the election.
See what I did there?

I’m calm, I promise.

If you are a Christian and voted for Trump because some of his supposed values align with yours then I will remind you of this:

Execute true justice; show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor." Zechariah 7:15

If Trump manages to make new laws that oppress certain people groups you must stand for them.

Ok, here’s what happened to me.
The other day I took my little sister to get her hair cut and decided to stay out in my car to wait for her.
Who needs to go inside and watch hair falling to the floor, right?
I’m sitting in my car, on my phone, wasting time as such things do and I started to notice that I wasn’t feeling normal. Sometimes I have random things that bother me and then they fade in a few minutes.
So I waited for a few minutes but it wasn’t going away and I could not figure out what was wrong because the feeling was foreign to me.
I was restless, apprehensive, kind of jumpy, and I was suddenly checking and rechecking my car mirrors so I could see to the sides and behind my car, there was this unreasonable feeling that something was going to happen, like I was watching for signs of danger.
I didn’t feel safe, some random guy was passing by and I was watching him like a hawk thinking, “Can he tell I’m a gay woman?” Maybe my short hair gave it away?
And then “What the hell?”
I started feeling sick after I realized what was going on, I ended up going in and watching my sister's hair fall onto the floor.

I am not afraid of things normally, I don’t have many fears and those of you that know me beyond casual passing are aware of that. I believe that if I am meant to die a certain way then it’ll happen no matter what I do to avoid it. If I’m meant to die in a plane crash and I avoid flying, a plane could just fall on my house while I’m minding my own business; it would be a plane crash- I don’t have to be on the plane. Why fear things like that?
I’m also a Christian which is the other reason I’m not afraid to die, if I die I go to heaven, what’s better than that.

“You can’t be gay and be a Christian.”

Settle down, I disagree with you, respectfully, when we get to heaven, we’ll see. I also have other experiences which add to my reasoning but that is most definitely not the point.

I was anxious, having a strange amount of anxiousness, that refused to leave.
This was disturbing.
Even more disturbing; I do not believe that will be the last time it happens to me.

For many of the people I know, this is a daily reality.

The cause for this, is our new political situation; I know Trump is not the president yet but he will be.
When the main posts on social media after an election are suicide hotlines, there is a problem and we must not ignore this.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried, I am. I don’t know if everything Trump said was just posturing, even if it was, the mere fact that he did such a thing is worrying.

You should care that he is now president-elect, you should care that his election is already having an effect on the way your friends and perhaps even family feel and it is serious.

I am a strong person, if you know me then you know that is true, but the way I felt yesterday is concerning.

To those of you who did not support Trump and now sit in anger, I beg you to remember why you stood for Hillary.

I ask that you not spew the same hateful speech that is directed towards you, we must be better, if we are not better than how can we be an example of love in the face of this division?

I am not saying sit in silence, far from it; when you speak be aware of your words; standing for us does not require hate for those who stand against us.

You want to stand for love? Then do so and carry it in your speech.

All that being said, I am heartbroken for our nation, for everyone. My soul is truly burdened by everything that is transpiring.

I love you all.

Be safe.

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