Post Election Thoughts

I was shocked as election night wore on to discover that our country had elected Trump as our next president. I felt that the things Trump has done and said over the years would surely dissuade any rational human from voting for him. Still nearly four days later, I don’t understand it. Is it that we’re not a rational country right now?

I’ve come to the realization that I’m not in touch with America. I have many friends and associates. I’d say that 90-95% of them were voting for Clinton. But my friends don’t make up the millions of people that live in this country. They make up my small circle. My world is obviously much different than the world of a struggling Midwest farmer. I can only rationalize that so many folks were hurting so desperately that they would do something desperate: vote for guaranteed change, even if it meant voting in someone who seems to insult every possible group he can in order to make himself feel what? Bigger? Happier? I don’t know.

One thing I can’t come to terms with is how we elect someone to the highest office in the land given that he has done many of the things we teach our children not to do: bully, insult, think only of him/herself, cheat, not pay what you owe, hate. With this election, aren’t we now teaching our children that those things don’t matter? Aren’t we telling them, “Do what you want, whenever you want; think of yourself; get ahead, whatever it takes; be afraid of diversity?”

Here’s what I now hope: I hope that I have completely misread, misunderstood, misjudged Trump. I hope that he proves to be a very different president than the person he has been to this point in his career, his life. I do hope he succeeds as president, mainly because it would mean success for our country. I am skeptical, but open to giving him a chance. Please, Trump, don’t build a wall, don’t spread hate, spread love instead, don’t insult but listen. Mainly, don’t put our country in danger, and don’t let our country down. Live up to the potential that still has to exist inside you. Help heal our country.