Inherit the Wind & Exile
The past few days have been dark and intense. Even before, the stress of the election was so unsettling my hair started falling out. Being in Colorado, I was able to vote weeks ahead of election day and although I knew the media was calling for a close election, I managed to hold onto faith (I’m a Jupiter ruled sign, that’s what we do). Tuesday, I managed to stay busy and didn’t park myself in front of the TV until about 8PM locally (10PM east coast). Even by then things looked bad. By 9, I couldn’t watch anymore. Well, you all know how it went.
Wednesday was devastating and that’s truly an understatement. The full ramifications of the victory were hollowing. Now my stomach was fully involved. Burn, baby burn! No amount of ginger tea can touch the soul trauma my “fellow” Americans had wrought. Some people want logical answers about how this happened, why this happened. They will emerge in time. But at this point, it’s irrelevant. To the winner go the spoils. And spoils it shall be.
2024 was a year of choice. A year to get it right. The easy way was to make the moral choice. It was actually easy. History will bear this out.
However, the “people” did not make the easy, moral choice. Instead, they sacrificed the future for what they hope will be immediate personal gain. And now these people are on the march (I do mean, literally). I’ve seen the gleeful, verbal punching on social media from the previously timid so you can imagine what the prideful, emboldened will now do. It starts with words that go unchecked. It will manifest into action (and yes, violence against parts of society). Because the dark has been given full, legal reign now. (Oh, they’ll cry. We didn’t want that! Yes, you did. That’s what you voted for.)
2025 (I believe) will be even more challenging and consequential than Covid. The dark has risen. Don’t tell me you can negotiate with the darkness. Remember when Chamberlain tried? Many of us will be tested in ways we never thought imaginable. Many of us will be forced to draw lines and make choices that are irrevocable. We are now forced to inherit the wind of this election.
I don’t resonate with this new American poised on retribution, violence, and white power. Now is the time to make some assessments on your own safety. Colorado is supposedly a blue state but that’s highly deceptive. I live in a red county, and I don’t feel welcome or safe. For 2025, I will be living in exile and assessing options. (Never did I think I’d ever write a line like that.)
To all of us who fought this fight and lost this week, remember self-care. Do what is required to make it through the day, week, and month. Don’t push yourself too hard. Take time to grieve. High quality nutritious food, rest, meditation, get out and take a walk. Seek out conversations with safe people. All this can help.
