Stepping into the Freezer, A Phish Fan’s Thoughts on the Trump Victory
(Don’t crush me for poor grammar, as I finished this at 4:45 am with no editor)
This might be the worst post I have ever written. Who cares what some Phish blogger has to say about politics! Particularly a Phish blogger who can’t spell and butchers the English language. This post is not for you. It’s for me. It’s 3:40am and I can’t sleep.
There won’t be any jokes or gifs here. There is a time and a place for that and when I am trying to rationalize my feelings, serious thoughts need to supersede any lame attempts at humor.
I am scared. I am scared of Trump and I am scared of where our country is headed. Even more importantly I am scared of the comments/posts/tweets I have read of what a large portion of America thinks. Scrolling through social media I find a place filled with hatred, ill wishes, and general disdain for not just Hillary Clinton, but for individuals, and sometimes even entire races of people. The internet, and America can be a scary place. We see it with trolls, and now we have seen it in the polls.
I’m a die hard Phish fan and by association, I am a hippie. Peace, Love, and Happiness are three words I hold dearly. When I come across messages of hate it troubles me. My thoughts and my emotions are so far from negativity that I have a hard time understanding them when from others. I have always done my best to try and understand the circumstances of other people. Is it their upbringing? Is it there marriage, their job, their health? So many things can have such an impactful outcome on people’s lives. Somehow I have been lucky enough to make it through life without hating anyone and finding the good in almost all things.
Politics is an extremely difficult subject. I minored in Political Science in college and I also taught Politics in Government in High School. I have always had an interest in it, but it doesn’t dominate my life. In fact as I have gotten older I prefer to keep most of my views to myself and instead listen and analyze what other people say. My goal is to be excepting and knowledgeable about what other people’s viewpoints are so that I can better defend my own. Not to mention people will respect your opinions more the less you of them you give and the more accepting you are of theirs.
Bernie Sanders was my guy. I have never admired, trusted, and generally believed in a candidate more than I did with Bernie. There was kindness and humbleness to him that resonated with me to my core. It was a fun ride and awoke a political spirit in me that I hadn’t felt in a long time.
Donald Trump was not my guy. Trump had stirred up the complete opposite of all things I have felt about Bernie. The admiration was replaced by disgust, the trust replaced by skepticism, the kindness replaced by bigotry, and the humbleness replaced by pretentiousness. I have never disliked a candidate more in my life. Yet I never felt it was my place to bash or discredit someone who supported Trump before the election, nor will I do so tomorrow or in the time that follows. Who am I to impose on someone what to think? As long as they have well thought out reasons and honestly believe he is the right person for the job, it is their right as a human and American to think that. I refuse to personally attack someone. That being said, you have to have well thought out reasons for me not to question you.
The things that scare me are the overwhelming reasons people voted for Trump. These are what I run into time and time again…
1.) He tells it like it is
Really? You know Donald Trump? You know him so well that you are certain he is always telling the truth? You are sure he doesn’t have his own personal business at heart? You are sure he isn’t making decisions for personal gain or to further his egotistical psyche? Are you sure he even knows what it is in order to tell it like it is?
2.) I am sick of the status quo.
Is that status quo that bad? You can be anyone you want to be. You can go to college, move where you want, marry, practice any religion, and buy whatever it is you want. America already is amazing. That is of course unless you are a minority. Which the crazy part is minorities voted for Hillary! The one group that should have voted against the “status quo” voted almost 70% for Hillary!
3.) We need a great businessman in office
Just google his business failures. Nevada won’t even give Trump a gaming license for Trump Tower. He had no Casino there. Now he is our commander in chief.
But yet here we are.
Even though so many of the reasons people voted for Trump have major holes in them, when I wake up tomorrow, he will the the incumbent. I spent most of tonight just being sad and afraid. It’s painful to think that a lot of the social progress we have made might soon be forgotten. It’s scary to wake up to a world of uncertainty.
I saw so many messages of fleeing the country, of being scared to talk to your children, or even your classroom. There is plenty of ways to talk to people about this. This is the world. You live in this world like it or not. You can teach and preach love and education, and while it might not make a difference to the grand scope of this world, it is a start. Most importantly it will make a difference to those around come into contact with you.
Tomorrow brings uncertainty
Yet I am happy to be there as a voice of reason. For those Trump supporters who are boasting, and yelling insulting things…I will be there to try and help you with compassion. For those Hillary (or anti-Trump) supporters scared and afraid to talk to your children, I will be there to talk you off the ledge. I will help you to further that the message of peace shines brighter in the dark.
My hope and is that Trump reigns in his hate and works on bringing us together. If I hope that for him, how does it look if I call people idiots, bigots, racists, or other hurtful terms who supported him? Instead I hope for myself that I can try and listen to what is going on with our nation and do whatever I can to bring more Peace, Love, and Happiness into it.
I hope you will join me. Love always wins.