I suspect this will be short and sweet… or not so sweet, depending…
My post-election reaction was different from many of my friends, who were running around like Chicken Little, shouting the sky had fallen, the world was over, the impossible had happened, we all had to run, hide, or just keep shrieking until we were hoarse.
I was calm, not hysterical, not even shocked. I confess to muttering a lot, however, and this is what I heard bubbling from my core: “You can’t stop me,” over and over. Who was I talking to and what couldn’t be stopped? I was talking to the president-elect, and I was telling him that neither he nor his enforcers could stop me from doing what I do, from being who I am. I would continue working for what I believe in. I would keep up a flow of support for important causes. I would not be stopped from helping out locally in any small ways I could.
Self-care gurus advise not to take his threats, his promises personally, to try to disengage, remain sane, and focus on productive tasks. I understand that it is best not to fall for his predictions: the immediate deportation of millions, invading Panama, declaring war on civil rights, making the French fry the national vegetable… ok, I’m over the top, but you know what I mean. How easy it is to find your pulse racing in anger and disbelief, as words spew out of your mouth that would shock your grandma. On the other hand, to try to stay objective and disengage is asking too much.
So, I do take it personally, very personally. I imagine the president-elect trying to stop me, Lucy in Santa Fe, from being me, because he thinks I am exactly what’s wrong with this country – liberal, gullible, introspective, thoughtful, and caring. I like to picture him fuming, red-faced, tiny hands flailing the air. “How dare she, the little #$%&#%$*!? Wait til I get my hands on her scrawny neck!” But he would never find me because I would just be doing what I’ve always done, turning up the steam a bit, but keeping a low profile. I would be too little, too local to be a target. But there would be more and more of us, bubbling up, doing daily good in more and more creative ways.
And I have one more challenge for the president-elect. Not only can you not stop me, you can’t make me. You can’t make me do what you want. I will not turn on my immigrant neighbors and friends. I will not seize my neighbor’s backyard because I want their vegetable garden. I will not spew hate and fear. You can’t make me be someone I’m not. So there.
My muttering response to the election has worked pretty well. I’m surprised how powerful I feel, in a quiet, conspiratorial way. I am hoping it will last.
May 2025 bring you power of your own kind.
I love this Lucy! Thank you for reminding us we can continue to do our own good deeds and ignore that fright of a person
I love that “fright of a person”! And we can laugh, there’s power in that, too.
I agree!! Thank you, Julianna, and Lucy, for reminding us to keep on keeping on and ignore “that fright of a person.” If more of us did, including the media, he might just melt, line the Wicked (Warlock) of the West!
Thanks, Joanna! I feel our ranks swelling — hooray!
Lucy,
That’s a real good one!! Thanks,
Teri
Thanks, Teri. Hope all is well with you.
Nothing certain yet, but some friends are trying to organize some “teach in” type events to bring us up to speed on immigrant rights and how we can be supportive. I’ll keep you posted.
Perfect, Les! Thank you so much. We’ve always been kindred spirits, now more than ever.
Thank you, Lucy, I needed that!
Happy to oblige, Eric! Take care.
YES!!!!!!!! I’d recently emerged from Grieving, from numbness and a specifically large need to protect mySelf…in some unknown ways. And you arrived exactly at the right moment for me to receive you and all of your Low Profile/Steam-Turning-Up energies. We’re in painfully Red Montana, tho Dems broke the GOP strangle hold in the state legislature. I welcome your invitation to keep the heat at X-actly the right temperature for ongoing, low-boiling care of each other and the country we intend to continue living in democratically, respectfully, honestly.
So good to hear from you, Lynn. I really like those three adverbs: democratically, respectfully, honestly. I’m going to add them to my mutterings!
Lucy, I appreciate your words, and how you are approaching this incoming administration. My sense of dread has been going up as we get closer to the inauguration. But, I’m gonna follow your lead and continue to live my life, stay on a good path, and do my best over the next 4 years. All of us are stronger knowing we are together, and living our lives with integrity and compassion.
Thanks so much, Cynthia. Always good to hear from you. I think of you often and the way you did your job — integrity and compassion were your strengths. Glad we’re on the same path! Take care.
as Pete Buttigieg said, he likes to provoke, he says stuff just to get in the papers or get your goat
while we can’t totally ignore his shit, your blog explores the right stuff — the value of each of us to keep on
to keep on making this world a better place in whatever way we can
good going Lucy
Thanks, Susan! I really appreciate your comradeship along the way.