My biggest pet peeve in the workplace are those who point
fingers and assign blame when things go sideways. It’s counter-productive. It’s
demoralizing. It never works.
As I drove home from work on Wednesday – stuck in yet
another DC traffic jam – I became very angry with myself. Despite the election,
I had a great week. The dog my girlfriend rescued in 2010 had her third
successful surgery, this one to remove an ulcerated tumor from her abdomen. This dog was
given four months to live in May 2013. She doesn’t give a shit because she’s
tough as hell.
So as I arrived home from work on Wednesday and she bounded
to me with an energy missing when she had her tumor, I got emotional. I need to
be more like her. I need to be tough. I need to start attacking the world with
an energy missing when America decided whether it needed surgery for a tumor.
Spoiler alert: that tumor was elected President.
It’s time for action. It’s time for me to take action. For
too long, I’ve done the bare minimum to help causes. Write blog posts. Share
stories on social media. Donate money. It’s not enough.
I have decided that I need to make a significant difference.
I don’t mean symbolic gesture like boycotting news media. I mean actions that
will lead to a direct outcome.
#1: Stop Ignoring
White Privilege
The most disgusting part of Wednesday was reading Facebook
posts from people imploring the world to unite and come together after a tough
election. These posts were from people who did not vote for the Tumor, but did
not vote for Hillary. They also had one other characteristic in common – they
were white.
It is the definition of white privilege to not worry about
President Tumor, because you, personally, have little to worry about. You know, besides the
crippling recession that seems to accompany any Republican
in charge of any state or country. When did we stop caring about our fellow man?
It’s very easy to cut racists
out of your life – the people in the deplorable basket are in there forever.
But it’s not as easy to cut out those who simply do not get it. These are your
Aunts, your Cousins, your former classmates or co-workers. They aren’t bad
people, they just live in a bubble. They live in white neighborhoods, they work
with white co-workers and they simply don’t get it.
And when pressed on not getting it, they fight back and
complain about everything being seen through the prism of race. Why do they say
race doesn’t matter? Because they’re white, so racism is not a problem for
them.
This is going to be painful but it’s a step I have to take.
I can no longer stand idly by while people I love are oblivious. They’ve never
walked through an airport with a Muslim. They don’t walk down Mass Ave and see
black teenagers accosted by police. They don’t know what it’s like to be told
to “go back” to Mexico. It’s an education process. Speaking of which…
#2: Pick An Issue,
Mine is Education
The scariest part of this election was how ill-informed the
electorate was. They were easily manipulated by fake stories, which we later
learned were mostly planted by Russian trolls and teens
in Macedonia trying to make a quick buck. But it didn’t stop from people
believing the absurdity of nonsense like Hillary purchasing 30,000
guillotines to behead Christians,
a new spin on old nonsense.
Unfortunately, this is a fundamental problem in our country.
If you look at state-by-state rankings
of high school education, the bottom 11 states all voted for the Tumor. Of
the bottom 15, only New Mexico was with her. Why do you think that is?
By living with a girlfriend who is a pre-school teacher –
both in DC and Northern Virginia – you very quickly realize the serious issues
facing our educational systems at every level. It’s only worse in fly-over
country, where Republican governors and legislatures have slashed
education budgets. We have a horrific situation where the adults are dumb
getting dumber while the students are not getting smarter.
This needs to change. My action here will be two-fold. For
one, I will stay in tune with key education initiatives across the country and
fight for more education funding in any way I can. Secondly, I will work to
illuminate the issues surrounding education, in hopes of providing the facts
about why our children are falling behind the rest of the world.
#3: Volunteering to
Fight Against the War on Women
The man elected President admitted, with audio, to
committing sexual assault. In the weeks after, more
than a dozen women came out to corroborate similar, sickening stories.
Other than courteous statements that always included their wife or daughter,
the vast majority of Republicans suddenly forget about their relatives and backed
their candidate on Election Day.
I honestly have no idea how a woman woke up on Wednesday and
felt that this country cared about them.
And it's only going to get worse, as conservatives remain
obsessed with telling women how to deal with their genitalia. The problem in
this country is that there are not enough men standing up and defending women –
silence is complicit.
I will no longer be silent. Starting today, I will volunteer
my time and donate my money to non-profit organizations, such as Planned
Parenthood, that provide life-saving services for women. We don’t have a
civilization without women, so maybe we should start protecting them.
Similarly, it’s time for the rape culture that has engulfed
this nation to be dismantled and tossed into history’s trash heap. We should
not need to invoke our mother to reject rape.
#4: Become a
Community Organizer
In 2008, Barack Obama was derided – by Sarah Fuckin’ Palin
of all people – for getting his start as a community organizer. But it was the
foundation that fueled the Obama machine for so long and it was the missing
piece in Hillary’s outreach that felt so forced.
What can we do? How can we do? How do we ensure that
America’s Tumor is removed as quickly and as painlessly as possible?
I know I’m not alone in this. So beginning in January, after
some reflection on the best course of action, I will begin hosting regular
meetings of people that want to make a difference on key issues.
To start with, the poor turnout of voters will be an
immediate issue. How does only half of our nation vote for our President? It’s
a total crock that Election Day still falls on a Tuesday work day – how can we
change that?
What Happens Now?
That’s the biggest question facing our country, specifically
the majority who did not vote for our current leader. I guess you could say
he’s #NotMyPresident.
And it’ll be a cold day in hell before I ever call him that.
There’s work that needs to be done to make sure the 2016
election is an aberration in America’s history and not an irrevocable stain on
humanity. I don’t know what happens now.
I do know that I’ll be damned if this happens again without
doing absolutely everything in my power to prevent it. I have lost faith in
many Americans. I have not lost faith in America.
What will you do?
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