Post Election Grief

I didn't post this the morning after the election. I didn't want to give in to my emotional, gut wrenching first reaction and end up in political war posts all over Facebook. I wanted to have my personal reaction without all of social media weighing in. With that said, my reaction hasn't changed much.

If you are my friend and you voted for Trump - you are still my friend. If you are my friend and didn't vote - you are still my friend. Being my friend is not contingent on your political strategy or opinion. If you are my friend and voted for Trump - I do NOT think you are a racist, sexist, entitled pussy grabber. I DO think you VOTED for a racist, sexist, entitled pussy grabber. And that is a pretty key difference.

However...

You CHOSE to put this man in office. For whatever reason. And now I have to explain this man and talk about this man for four more years to my children. And this makes me sad. I feel legitimate grief and frustration and bewilderment over this choice that you made. And I am not going to just 'get over it' or 'give Trump a chance' because of this choice you made. I am not going to change my opinion of this man just because he won an election. I still think he is a racist, sexist, entitled pussy grabber. All the Trump supporters jeering about us Hillary supporters being 'sore losers' is such nonsense. This was not a typical election. I am not having a typical let down because my candidate lost. I am heart sick for our country. And heart sick that people chose to reward the kind of man he is. And I am worried about all the racist, sexist, bullies that were just emboldened by your choice and now feel free to spew that kind of hatred across our country. That was, and is, the driving force behind my opinion. I have many political, experience, issue driven reasons why I voted for Hillary over Trump - but at the end of the day...

This man is a bully.

He mocked and slandered minorities, the disabled, and women.

Not once, or twice...but over and over and over again.

He repeatedly engages in behavior that I don't allow my toddlers to demonstrate.

That bears repeating...

I GIVE MY 4 YEAR OLD TIME OUT FOR BEHAVIOR THAT OUR PRESIDENT ELECT INDULGES IN ROUTINELY.

And how do I explain that to my older kids? My toddlers hopefully won't know anything about this man until he is no longer relevant. But my big kids? They know. They watched the debates, watched this man's abhorrent behavior. They have a foot in the Hispanic community and likely know people way more affected by this than our fairly safe, middle class, mostly white family. My girls? How do I talk about mean girl behavior and inclusion and doing the right thing with my high school daughters - and then they watch our country reward that behavior? How do I talk to them about deserving and demanding respect for themselves- and our President elect is on video talking about grabbing pussy? How much more difficult did this election make their coming of age? How do I explain that you shouldn't get ahead by putting other people down?

Tell them the old parent standby? Do as I say, not as I do?

Except...

Do as I say, not as our country just did.