It’s cold
comfort that by the time the count is complete, Donald Trump will probably be
behind Hilary Clinton by well over a million popular votes. The greed, social
injustice, and ecological pillage that he promises to unleash will surely
match and probably outstrip that of the Reagan years. And Reagan, at least, that
simple-minded hack now canonized by the American right, at least had two terms
as governor of California behind him before he assumed the most powerful office
in the world. The flames of hatred and division that Trump fanned as he cut his
campaign swath through the body politic will engulf for years the glimmers of the
more just and tolerant society that we might instead have evolved into.
This is no
time to retreat into a shell of private serenity and personal fulfilment. It’s
not a time to collapse in despair. Neither is it a time to lash out in fury.
It’s a time
to recognize that the only way to heal the soul is to repair the world, and
the only way to heal the world is to repair the soul. The most authentic
foundation for action is contemplation, as Franciscan Richard Rohr reminds us.
And the litmus test that our spiritual practice isn’t mere self-delusion is
conversely that it bears fruit in the world.
It’s a time
to deepen our awareness through spiritual practice that our lives are not
restricted to our small, isolated selves alone, but are nourished by the web of
connections through which our life flows in and out of ourselves, in and out of
each other, in and out of all creatures. And it’s a time to live out that
awareness by building and sustaining networks of solidarity and action that will keep hope
alive through dark years that we’re almost certainly facing.
It’s a time
to donate to organizations that struggle for justice and dignity of the marginalized--to the American Civil Liberties Union, to the Southern Poverty Law Center, to Planned Parenthood, to a dozen others. Till
we can’t afford to give more.
It’s a time
to volunteer one’s talents and energy.
It’s a time
to help settle refugees and to protect them from xenophobia.
It’s a time
to participate in peaceful demonstrations.
It’s a time
to pour out into the streets in solidarity with the victims of hate crimes.
It’s a time
to work for positive change at more local levels, since the federal
government has failed us all. It’s some comfort that progressive measures on a
range of issues passed at state and local levels on Tuesday: the minimum wage
was raised, transit projects were funded, possession of small amounts of
marijuana for personal use was decriminalized; a ballot measure for a
single-payer health-care system in Colorado went down to resounding
defeat, but at least it was on the ballot. More such measures will surely be on state
ballots as Congress dismantles the Affordable Care Act.
It’s a time
for queer men of spirit to recognize that what’s done to our Muslim brothers
and sisters, our Hispanic brothers and sisters, our black brothers and sisters,
our impoverished brothers and sisters, our trans brothers and sisters, our
indigenous brothers and sisters, is done
to us, and to act accordingly. It’s a time to remember that we are the
guardians of the Earth who is our Mother and of whom we remain a part, and to
act accordingly.
It’s a time
to remember that every time we make love, we win.
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