Post-Election Hopes for the Future
Hers is only one of the eloquent voices included in this Forum, expressing both hopes for the future in the aftermath of the pivotal November 2024 elections, and personal convictions and determination to effect positive changes over the next four years — and beyond.
Many of our contributors note the vital importance of the arts as we move forward. “I believe we have an obligation to document [what is happening around us] for posterity, as have all those writers and poets before us,” writes Sue Young of Jacksonville, Florida. She also believes “that we can be great catalysts for change, but let’s try to do it with decency and respect while remaining aligned with the truth.”
Priscilla Tilley of Hanover, Massachusetts, has “mixed feelings regarding the next four years in my ironically named country: the United States of America.” But she is focusing on hope, declaring, “There is much power in collective, steadfast attention to being the best we can be, and if not the best, at least the better.”
Meryl Baer of Ventnor City, New York, advises us to “lobby our representatives in the House and Senate on causes we feel passionate about,” and reminds us that “the next presidential election is Tuesday, November 7, 2028.”
Many thanks to all the members of the Persimmon Tree community who answered our call for post-election hopes. We received far more submissions than we could include in the Forum, and we urge all those whose submissions don’t appear below—and all others who wish to add to this discussion—to enter their thoughts in the “Comment” pane at the bottom of this page.
Editor-in-Chief
Such dissonance is a call for soul-searching and deep reflection. A chance to rethink how we communicate, how we label things, examine the assumptions underlying our values. It’s not easy. Who wants to admit that something they’ve held dear actually isn’t the only way? It’s uncomfortable. But as women and artists over 60, we are proven. We don’t have to worry. We have the courage to speak and ask uncomfortable questions. Instead of judging with preconceptions and labels, we can slow down and open our minds to people different than ourselves. We can ask how the other person arrived at their values. Ours isn’t the only way. Sometimes just a few steps to the right or left can give us a needed change in perspective. Writing is an opportunity to change perspectives, for ourselves and others. Let’s see this as a time for light, not darkness.
Susann Rose
Petaluma CA
We Are Still Strong, We Are Still Speaking Out, from a series of photographs of women-led demonstrations by Merry Song
A Fragile Hope
That feather perched in my soul that Dickinson called Hope is doing double-duty these days. Almost all branches of government in this nation are in the hands of those I think don’t have my best interests at heart. Yet, I continue living here. I love this problematic country. And I am not a quitter—in person or spirit.
¿Quién sabe? Perhaps, some good will come of this—a new approach to issues that bedevil us daily: persistent poverty amid wealth, poor health outcomes despite rich expenditures, low educational attainment though we put a man on the moon with an 80-kilobytes-of-memory computer, bigotry, the disconnect between what we vote for and what we get… .
That’s not to say I’ll just sit back, waiting for what eventuates. My innate character and the activism braided into my epigenome will not allow that. I’m already sending letters to members of Congress, pushing back on policies and legislation that hurt us all. I help a 10-year-old boy learn to read as he learns Inglés at my local public school. I sit ‘round the table with diverse groups that believe, as I do, the reason we are on this earth is to help each other through.
Sylvia Ramos Cruz
Albuquerque NM
“The Times They are A-Changin’”
We surely live in tumultuous times, but this isn’t the first tumult – even in our lifetime – and won’t be the last. I found guidance in a few lines from this iconic Bob Dylan song.
“The loser now, will be later to win.”
Don’t lose hope for the future. The picture is much bigger than the 2024 election and Project 2025. Maintaining a hopeful outlook will keep our focus on a better time and place.
“(S)he who gets hurt will be (s)he who has stalled.”
There is little we can do to impact foreign wars or Washington antics. But we can stop doom-scrolling the news. We can focus energy on creating and loving. In these times it may be wise to live in momentary joys.
“Your old road is rapidly age-in’. Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand.”
As our old road ages, we must face the future. See those around us who need something and help them. If nothing else we need to rediscover our humanity. That is all that can save us.
In short, my mantra is “have hope, change myself, and help others.”
Michelle Rogers
Chicago IL
We Are Still Strong, We Are Still Speaking Out, from a series of photographs of women-led demonstrations by Merry Song
When my father was very old I used to ask him what it was that made him want to keep going, and he would answer with a smile and a twinkle in his eye. “I want to stick around to see what will happen.” I now think that there must be a genetic element to that life force. For two days after the election I felt hopeless. And then I didn’t. I want to stick around to see what will and what won’t happen. And in the meanwhile I will heed Voltaire’s advice to Candide to tend my own garden, which includes my grandsons, who give me joy and hope, and my own community which badly needs tending. I will work for women’s rights and for criminal justice reform. I will help immigrant kids learn English so that they can thrive in their adopted land, which I hope and pray will continue to welcome them. I will read and write. I will nurture my friendships and cultivate new ones in my still lush and fertile garden. And I will travel with my husband to new lands to bring back ideas to refresh and renew my garden.
Susan K. Glassman
St. Louis MO
Being in my seventh decade, I have witnessed many heart-wrenching political events during my lifetime. I vividly remember watching these events unfold on television: President Kennedy’s motorcade and assassination in Dallas, Texas; brutal battles during the Vietnamese war; the Kent State shooting of four students by the military; civil rights activists getting beaten by police, etc. — my generation watched it all. And yes, we felt huge sadness, fear, anger, and worry.
I have watched the political pendulum swing far right and then far left. I watched, when I was a college student, the Roe v. Wade decision become a law — allowing for first trimester termination of pregnancy. Back then, we were losing a statistically significant number of pregnant young women to dangerous illegal abortion. Daughters were dying. We had to find a “middle way,” an acceptable solution, a choice that does the least amount of harm to our society.
The pendulum has swung again, back to the right, and that Supreme Court decision is no longer a law.
I’ve witnessed polluted rivers and lakes, and brown air become cleaner when folks had to choose between their family’s health and their jobs — asking for more corporate responsibility. Safer air, water, food, cars, buildings, roads — these things were accomplished. A society choosing what is a decent decision, not always a perfect decision. It’s a balancing act and a slow process. It’s important to acquire factual information and accurate data in the news (and in our minds). A free press is the basis of sound democracy.
I’m glad you asked in the forum what we think. Here’s my wrap up:
I’m hopeful that the American people will educate themselves and apply facts and thought processes to their country’s decision making. We are in the Information Age, after all. One leader, or one president, will never get it right. We must not allow one person to save us or to destroy us. There are billions of us here and we have to find solutions together that do the least amount of harm. We need to pay attention, keep learning and understanding what decisions can mean in the long run, and work together.
I’m hoping we will, as a nation, survive the swing in the pendulum, and find the middle way to keep democracy intact.
Heather B. Wood
Denver CO
We Are Still Strong, We Are Still Speaking Out, from a series of photographs of women-led demonstrations by Merry Song
Life is all about cycles: the excitement and turmoil of the 1940s led to the staid safety of the ‘50s, which led to the creative and revolutionary outburst of the ‘60s, and so on.
We are clearly going through a cycle of conservatism and overall constriction of everything (except, perhaps, the powers of the president).
However this cycle evolves it will lead to the next cycle, one which will likely encompass the opposite reaction of expansion. That’s what cycles are, no? The Yin to the Yang, the conservative to the liberal, the homogeneous to the heterogeneous.
We older women writers and artists can effect ultimate change with the works we create. As the current cycle plays out, our art will be like seeds planted in the country’s collective consciousness and ultimately help generate the next cycle.
Which came first, works like The Catcher in the Rye and On the Road or the psychosocial changes represented by them? Art has a powerful effect on society, though usually we don’t recognize it until we look back retrospectively. So, fellow artists, we need to keep the creativity strong and hopefully speed up the advent of the next cycle.
Denise Beck-Clark
Yonkers NY
One era ends and a new one begins. Whether we describe this time as an inflection point, the end of a pendulum swing, a change of seasons, or a fourth turning, taking the long view allows us to examine the past and look ahead. We have an opportunity to help reshape our nation and our society.
Individually, we can hone our gifts and strengths as we discern how to use them in ways that will help us move forward. Together, we can build bridges and make new bonds with people different from us as we focus on shared concerns and aspirations.
Let’s take the long view. Our history demonstrates that Americans are resilient, elders are wise, writers and artists are resourceful, and women are strong. That’s a good combination. We have faced great challenges before and triumphed; we can do it again.
S. G. (Sandy) Benson
Warne NC
We Are Still Strong, We Are Still Speaking Out, from a series of photographs of women-led demonstrations by Merry Song
Some hopes for the next four years. I hope that my grandson, who may have challenges, continues to develop, as I, a grandmother, bring him up within the family, rather than a daycare situation. I hope, together with the majority of women in America, for some limits such as a 20- week limit on the abortion of unborn children.
I hope that Trump keeps his promise of not taxing overtime work so that my son is able to keep more of what he earns and pay his mortgage more easily. As somebody in an income group making less than a hundred thousand a year, that $20 or $40 extra every time I go to the store matters. So I hope that my dollar will stretch further. I hope that my friend’s son will not find doctors so ready to undertake transgender surgery and puberty blocking. Research shows stunted growth and statistics, now emerging, of more cancer, more depression, and more suicide after transition. I also hope that my pediatrician daughter can feel less fearful of showing these statistics to parents who approach her for a referral to other doctors. Finally, I hope for a less fearful environment, a feminine environment, and a more rational environment.
Emily West
Milwaukee WI
On election day, I went to bed bereft, steeped in despair. Weeping, in fact. While I slept, all my faith in ever righting the world seeped out of me. I woke emptied of optimism, my inner Pollyanna catatonic.
And then, walking to work through city streets, I noted the world was still spinning in the same old way. I gave spare change to a homeless soul. He thanked me with a toothless smile, said, “God bless.”
An old woman, struggling to load heavy grocery bags into her car, made a grateful expression of appreciation when I helped her. “You’re an angel,” she said. She wore a MAGA hat.
Kindness knows no politics. People to people helpfulness is not politically motivated. I’ll just keep on being me, doing what I do within the radius of my community.
And then, I perked up. There is great hope for a future in a world where goodness no longer matters, a world where a convicted felon successfully lies, cheats, steals, boasts, and batters his way to leadership. The millions of people worshipping at the feet of such a man are going to need lots of help when he betrays them. There is still room for kindness.
Karen FitzGerald
Santa Rosa CA
I am still sorting out my options, on a restricted diet of news reports alongside copious servings of Italian murder mysteries mixed with romance. Am I navigating between Scylla and Charybdis? Where does this leave me? I am turning to love for guidance – moments of kindness given to others, which are often returned; to listening, being curious, and to devoting myself to community engagement again. I will get involved in the next election cycle here; I will not let up. While I appreciate the healing power of walks in the natural world, for me solace comes from poetry, mine and others. I don’t believe poems will change the world, but creative expression – art – is the purest form of communication I know. It does not exist in a vacuum but speaks for time, place, and history.
Ronnie Hess
Madison WI
We Are Still Strong, We Are Still Speaking Out, from a series of photographs of women-led demonstrations by Merry Song
A Plan
On election day, I was out of the country, in Vieux, Québécois. My husband and I had arrived the day before, on my 70th birthday, and I was cautiously optimistic that Kamala Harris would win. Surely, it was time for a female president. And, with half our country hating the other half, it was time to heal.
Home, I realized that, with such an uncertain future, I needed a plan:
- Talk with others about their plans. One friend said, “With tariffs, anything made of cotton will ‘go through the roof.’ Coffee, too. Stock up and have ready cash in your house.”
- Meet with our financial advisor and “batten down the hatches” before January 20th.
- Get in the best shape I can, both physically and mentally. Increase my daily exercise and decrease how often I watch the. News. Be that strong woman and, with the variability in women’s health issues, book all appointment, like my mammogram.
- Invest in my future. Hire an editor to help with my book-length manuscript. I’ve already scheduled that telephone interview for January 9th. Hopefully, armed with my memoir, I can change my part of the world.
- Be kind.
Barbara A. Rouillard
Springfield MA
My hope for the coming year and the years that follow is that older women writers and artists will continue to create our powerful and necessary work. Sharing our knowledge of the poetry, prose, artwork, and music of others who created during times of restriction will help to make that possible. Finding new ways of expressing ourselves may be useful as well — heightening our ability to use metaphor, writing in response to visual art, music, and the natural world. I plan to expand the ekphrastic workshops and retreats that I teach, and to include music to invite feeling deeply and experimenting with language. And to encourage the memorization of poetry. I will use these creative processes in my own work, and hope to discover forms of expression that will make it possible to continue writing poetry and perhaps expand into new genres and mixed media. Creative community is necessary as we face the unknown as well as anticipated challenges. Keeping our imaginations open and inspiring each other will be essential.
Jan Freeman
Ashfield MA
We Are Still Strong, We Are Still Speaking Out, from a series of photographs of women-led demonstrations by Merry Song
In far west Texas, slight lines on the radio dial separate us: Christian, rap, classical, talk, oldies, country, and Tejano. Each sound, like its listener, has stood boot to boot, cowboy hat to army beret, to create a community. Football crowds, marching bands, church choirs, howling winds, and rainless thunder resonate through the timeless sand and cactus. We’re people who never thought they’d live in the desert, surrounded by billion-year-old mountains, and yet, we’ve created a home of mixed cultures. For centuries, travelers have slipped through the mountain passes or splashed across the Rio Grande to settle and find their piece of paradise.
Come visit El Paso. We speak many languages, foster cultural differences, embrace religious choice, and live peacefully with our neighbors spanning two countries and three states. Maybe in the next four years, the elected men and women could follow the lead of an old city carved out of an inhospitable land.
Perhaps those advocating for change should research representative democracy. We are a melting pot of possibility, but we must start positive change by treating women as equals, understanding the pure love of children and families leaving their homelands, and putting kindness before riches.
Lynda Webb
Leander TX
It’s been a month, and I am still struggling to understand the outcome of the election. I have gone through the stages of grief. Probably will again.
All that Donald Trump stands for goes against my belief system, my core values of treating people respectfully, equal opportunity for all, and keeping the United States a democracy.
We had a candidate with the expertise, education, experience, and drive to do just that. Yet, she was defeated. Operative word – she.
I’ve concluded her gender and her race are the reasons Kamala Harris lost.
Do we, as older women writers and artists, throw our hands up and resign ourselves to four years of a second Trump term in office?
I think not.
My 2025 “resolution” is twofold—to unite with others who feel as I do and get involved on a community and local level. “Indivisible”—a progressive national movement which began in 2016—has numerous ways to do this.
My other resolution, though, is a kinder, gentler one. I will not demonize or close the door on a long-term friendship or relation due to how we voted. Life’s too short to keep the divisiveness alive.
Ellen Reichman
Kirkland WA
We Are Still Strong, We Are Still Speaking Out, from a series of photographs of women-led demonstrations by Merry Song
I go to bed on Election Night knowing full well that no matter the outcome, there will be work to do.
Instead of scanning my body from head to toe, I decide to scan my heart. I bring my hand to my chest and inhale. We have recently moved back to Texas amidst incredulous inquiries from our liberal friends. I think about our conservative son who prompted our return by inviting us back after he bought a house.
I exhale audibly and recall the early days of my involvement with the sanctuary movement here in town. I remember my uncertainty about what to say when I had to sit next to the immigrant at that first meeting.
I reach for my kefiyah on the bedpost and stretch it out over my head. I think of the allies who have been waving flags and holding signs every week over the city’s busiest highway.
A coyote howls in the distance. I am envious of the quiet stealth, and I wonder how I too can camouflage myself into my surroundings.
The night finally passes. I blink open my eyes with clear understanding of why I moved back: Activists are never lost in Texas.
Claire Reutter
Austin TX
Since November 5, many of my women friends have cried, pulled in, or disengaged from politics. I understand those feelings. On election night, at roughly 3 am, I went to bed, pulled the covers over my head (something I never do), and wanted to stay under them forever. But instead I got up, took the day off to feel numb—and then returned to looking forward. Because that’s what we all need to do: look ahead. In the next two years, after drastic cuts to Medicare, Social Security, health insurance, etc., the mood of the country will change. As the 2026 election approaches, we can help change the configuration of Congress. So let’s look ahead, pull together, see which seats are up for grabs, give what we can to candidates likely to flip seats, and, if retired, volunteer at women’s health clinics and other places helping women. Let’s stand together as women, protecting women, protecting health, even as everything appears to be disintegrating around us. Let’s apply our words, our art, our minds to the future. Let’s really expand our idea of who our audience is, spread our wings and vision wide. Let’s show the world—and ourselves—our strength.
Natalie Reid
Albuquerque NM
We Are Still Strong, We Are Still Speaking Out, from a series of photographs of women-led demonstrations by Merry Song
My hope is that President-elect Trump, now in the most powerful position in the world, will appreciate the fact that he has achieved his desired goal. He has proven that a majority of Americans have put their trust in him. Now it is my hope that everyone accepts the election results and are open to talking about both their expectations and disappointments. To having honest talks about our country and how to make it the America of our dreams. President-elect Trump owes us his best as he promised, and we owe him our best wishes for his success no matter how we voted.
Gayle Ann Weinstein
Wilmette IL
As I ponder what life will be like with a new administration, I think about my beloved grandchildren, all of them teenagers or young adults. The two who live in the U.S. will have more changes to contend with than I will, and the four who live in Israel, already dealing with life in a war-torn country, may have an even tougher road. At eighty-one years old I will continue to create joyful memories with them: baking together on Zoom, talking on Whatsapp, sending hearts with every text and email, always telling them “I love you more than…” When I am gone, I want them to remember, no matter what perils they face, that their grandmother played with, laughed with, and loved them more than she can express in words. May these memories sustain them and help them smile. May they live to see a more peaceful world than we have today. Even though I may not live to experience it, I hold onto hopes for a better future, not only for my grandchildren, but for all the world.
Gail Arnoff
Shaker Heights OH
We Are Still Strong, We Are Still Speaking Out, from a series of photographs of women-led demonstrations by Merry Song
In 1978, two of my friends and I played on a glacier. In July.
My grandchildren might never see a glacier.
Yet there is hope in the amount of renewable energy being produced. California is close to producing all its energy needs via carbon-neutral sources. Maine aimed to get 100,000 homes converted to heat pumps by 2025 and beat that goal by almost two years. We can get there from here.
We who have lived in the beauty of this world can teach a reverence for the planet. As artists and writers, we can touch hearts and minds in unique ways. As elders, we understand ways to correct the mistakes of those who are greedy or short-sighted. To eliminate the fossil fuels that are destroying our lungs, our homes and our glaciers, we must become the new Abolitionists.
A new Abolitionist Movement can gather collective voices. It can tap into personal networks that are decades in the making. It can use the power of information to boycott those who continue to abuse the planet. Collectively, we can make the changes for ourselves and our grandchildren.
I still hope to take my grandkids to play on a glacier.
Jude Ellis
Stroudsburg PA
After the [early December] tsunami warning along the Pacific Coast, a warning that was soon canceled, I began to think differently about the next four years. Rather than being subsumed by dread and hopelessness, I will try to surf a tsunami of hope. I will set my intentions every day: intentions to be patient, to persist in doing what I can to change my part of the world, to persevere in the face of despair. I pledge to support young people, especially young women, who I am counting on for their courage and commitment to the future. As the brilliant poet Nikki Giovanni says, “let me be part of the change.”
Angie Minkin
San Francisco CA
Sixty-Something and Flying Solo: A Retiree Sorts It Out in Iowa is an edgy, humorous memoir with serious ponderings. An Oregon transplant with no kids and no significant other, the author is someone about whom readers could say, “I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes, but if she can make it, I can, too.” Pieces such as 'What Not to Say at a Funeral' and 'Dusting and Other Insanities' provide a backdrop for monthly accounts of her fall into retirement’s abyss where she clings to her to-do lists while she alters her diet, her wardrobe and her vow to become more domestic. When she resurfaces a year later, she’s surprised at the landscape and what has saved her.
Marian Mathews Clark grew up among loggers in Mist, Oregon (pop 50), then caught the Union Pacific to Iowa to attend Graceland College. In the ensuing years, she capped perfume bottles on Coty’s assembly line in New York, was stranded on Loveland Pass during a blizzard, ironed costumes for Polynesian dancers at the Calgary Stampede, tried to shear a sheep in Australia, earned an MFA in Fiction from The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and with co-writer Patricia Stevens was a finalist at O’jai’s Film Festival for their feature script Timber.
Bart Yates, author of The Distance Between Us, said of her memoir, “Clark is a sly writer; she lured me in with…broken garbage disposals and mysteriously disappearing walls; only later did I realize she was…writing about mortality, loss, joy, and love. Great stuff.”
2015 edition available from Amazon, Culicidae Press, and from your local independent bookseller.
Bio
Merry Song observes the world from her home in Eugene OR. Her attention is often captured by the ordinary miracles of nature which include images of people in action. She is at work on a new series of expressive faces.
Find a group. Indivisible, your local Democratic Party—whatever will help push back against the unconstitutional and illegal spew coming from the White House. Stay updated (Substack has some great journalists), but don’t obsess.
Plant a garden. With food rotting in the fields, grocery prices will go up. Learn how to can and freeze your own produce. Have space but need labor? Go in with neighbors who are also a part of your pushback group. Do it now. Don’t wait.
Stock up. When those tariffs go into effect, everything will cost more. Get it now.
Help your neighbors. We’re all in this together. We stand together, or our nation will fall.
Prioritize self-care. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Reject fear. Reject lies. Keep yourself healthy and sane. Rest your body and your mind. Go for walks. Keep that dental appointment. Appreciate nature. Contemplate the stars. Hold your loved ones.
Pray. Whatever your faith tradition, appeal to God. We need all the help we can get.
I think your positive, proactive approach is admirable and very thoughtful. Growing your own food, or getting together with neighbours to do this, is an excellent activity for mind and body, and will ease the worry of likely food shortages down the line.
The speed of climate change events and their effect will perhaps be more appreciated by greater numbers than at present, and the Administration might wish to have more cordial relations with the outside world if it wants to keep its people sufficiently fed and watered.
Take heart! It was a woman who finally dared to openly confront America’s narcissistic leader. She, unlike the billionaires who bow down to him to curry favor and receive tax breaks, who fear his angry, self-righteous verbal abuse and social media retributions, and unlike the Republicans in Congress who have rolled over because they fear his verbal attacks will keep them from getting re-elected, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde openly and in front of millions watching the traditional prayer service at the National Cathedral, boldly asked the newly-elected leader sitting in the front pew with his family “to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” Imagine such audacity! She went on to say there are gay, lesbian and transgender children . . . some who fear for their lives.” She graciously did not add, “because of you, Mr. President.” He of course in his childish manner publicly stated she should apologize, that she is not very good at her job and that she is a “radical left hard line Trump hater.” But she said she will not apologize for asking the most powerful man in the world to have mercy on immigrant and LGBTQ+ families. She will not bow down. She, unlike him, does not think everything is about her. She, who since her sermon imploring mercy for the downtrodden has received death threats, will not stop speaking out against evil. And hopefully, her open, gentle and thoughtful rebukes to the president will inspire others to speak up and fight against injustice.
As a distraught Canadian, I am amazed at the hope and positive attitudes in these Forum essays. I do not understand it, but can appreciate the effort. But honestly, these are dark and chaotic times we’re entering into which started even before your election. The lies, manipulations, insults and expansionist agenda have been waved in Canadians’ (and other nations) faces without a hint of real facts or true data (fentanyl, 0.2% and illegals crossing from the northern border, 1.5%). Instead, we hear made up numbers that keep increasing exponentially and a total incomprehension of how tariffs work. Americans pay the 25% tariff your President Trump plans to impose on Apr 1 or is it now Feb 1? Your prices on goods and energy will rise dramatically, while our jobs diminish as you buy less from us. Remember, you are 10 times bigger and need more from us (critical minerals, raw materials, oil, gas, electricity, water, aluminum, potash, etc) than we do (juice, alcohol, clothing, etc). Our automotive industry is so entwined with yours, it’s incredibly naïve and shortsighted to try to dissolve such a solid partnership that results in so many jobs for all of us. Why? The idea of using ‘economic force’ (Trump’s own words) to bring a proud and sovereign country into your union is ludicrous; our historical allegiance is to the UK and the Commonwealth. And yet, your new guy covets Canada and all our resources – rather SICK actually! Equally disturbing is how an obvious criminal insurrectionist made it back to the White House with unfettered power and no checks and balances whatsoever. He’s drunk on his own narcissism, proclaiming outrageous lies as truths and buoyed by billionaire alley. What could possibly go wrong? Ask those brave officers and their families who had to watch as their violent Jan 6 attackers were pardoned on inauguration day. THIS IS AMERICA NOW? Biden, Obama, Bush, Clinton sitting quietly as Tsar Trump, who has God advising him, asserts international waters will now be called, ‘The Gulf of America’, and only Hillary chuckled? Shame on the rest of them and on you for not decrying the lies and the diminishing of your democracy and your constitution. Many countries (Canada, Mexico, UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc) not just the US, have birthright instilled in their Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but Donald Duck can quack the opposite and nobody opposes him? Ultimate power not only corrupts, it destroys and kills. Yes, America has already suffered this and here you are again on the doorstep of hell, you and the rest world. After all, there is no such thing as climate change, windmills are ugly, tariffs are good, wealth from the rich trickles down to the poor, Panama is to be repossessed, Greenland and its mass reserves of minerals belongs to Trump, but only because of international security. And ‘the US spends billions protecting Canada’ – ha? When your military comes up to Canada, it is protecting American interests – Alaska, the north, etc. Our ships often do manoeuvres together in the spirit of strength and co-operation. Canada has never asked for US protection, unlike the 150 Canadian soldiers we lost in Afghanistan as a member of NATO who stepped up to help you after 9/11. We have always been good neighbours and allies, now we’re about to enter into a mutually crippling trade war and I’m being asked not to buy anything made in the US, nor vacation in Florida. Okay, Cuba it shall be. All of this is devastatingly SAD and WRONG and due to Donald Trump.
This is my first time reading the Persimmon Tree newsletter and wow! I’m so impressed with the thoughtfulness and fabulous writing here. If I may, I’d like to add something I wrote yesterday that feels relevant to this conversation:
I would like to believe that my beloved country is not the “disaster” so many on both sides of the political aisle are calling it, but is, instead, engaged in the noble process of wintering.
The weather has changed.
Vanishing are our civility, humility, decorum and reverence.
Resources are scarce, and emerging are adaptations like the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency.
Alfred Wainwright famously wrote that “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing,” and right now, in the throes of this polar vortex, I fear that if my country insists on wearing shorts, it will not survive.
What if American Democracy does not resist the cold? What if it doesn’t fight, but also doesn’t pretend that winter is not happening? What would that look like? What extraordinary acts of metamorphoses might be at work beneath the ground, inside the den, unseen yet perfect?
Democracy has not been warmer, better, stronger, wiser than any time in history. We are a nation of the worlds best people who have fought and won our rights and freedoms for all people. We do not want to be governed by politicos who fight their opponent by using the offices to government (the people’s government) to sanction those who do not believe in their methods of control. This country should never send it’s political opponents to jail. Those political zealots who have circumvented the laws for their own self-serving gain should be revealed, the use of government ways and means for their own profit should be removed by the votes of the public. Our democracy is strong, our world is in a better place.
Respectfully, you are baffling to me. Your democracy is in so much trouble, especially now that your Supreme Court has made your President unaccountable, above the law. This used to be the proud foundation of American democracy. Similarly, the outrageous lie about a ‘rigged election’, which was never proven in countless court cases, and the refusal of Trump to ever concede and participate in the peaceful transfer of power were once unfathomable in your democratic nation, as was pure, undeniable insurrection. Some of the violent thugs your new guy pardoned on his inauguration day, had plead guilty and implicated Donald Trump for the Jan 6 call to action which they obeyed. And where is the democratic justice for the injured and dead officers and their families? Shameful. Your country and your democracy and your constitution are in such peril from a president whose habitual lies grow exponentially, are like breathing to him and feed his psychotic narcissism. He truly is unfit and has no clue how to help everyday citizens, only his billionaire buddies. “The Gulf of America, take back Panama, buy Greenland or take it over militarily for international security, not its resources, pick a made-up fight with your closest neighbour and best trading partner, Canada, using ‘economic force’ = 25% tariffs, even with USMCA in place till 2026 ??” All such sound, well thought out policies, right?? Your world and the world are assuredly NOT in a better place, but on the way to destruction by a sick man and the delusional MAGA citizens who believed it a great idea to put Donald Trump in charge again. Baffling, disturbing, scary as all hell!
It is inspiring to read all the forum submissions and see the strength, resilience and positive thinking shine through in many ways through illustration, experience and future action. This should give us all hope.
I am in the UK, and like many of you, I was hoping for Kamala Harris to win. I respect all views on any subject, political or otherwise (unless it inspires hate and violence), but a tolerant, sympathetic ear and shoulder may be needed if things don’t turn out as Trump supporters (family, friends or otherwise) believe and hope.
My view is that often, in times of turmoil, there needs to be a time of learning that is best not hurried to enable a deeper understanding of why change is happening and what can be done to restore balance and sanity. It may be that Kamala Harris’ time will come; maybe we need Trump a little while longer to trigger even more positive thoughts and action from those whose minds are surfacing to reflect a desire for a tolerant, peaceful world with kindness, sharing and concern for each other and our planet at the heart of our lives.
‘Truth is the daughter of time’ is a saying that is perhaps even more pertinent to the times we are living in with so much falsehood and greed in evidence but which at the same time is slowly unravelling. As many writers have stated, if we can be true to ourselves and give truth graciously as we see and believe it, there is much to hope for.
There is a logic in the fact that you need darkness to see the light; perhaps this is what we are living through, a storm of our own making, but the important thing is what we are learning. Perhaps, in the due season, with endeavour and good intent, the light will win through in the end.
I’ve never heard “truth is the daughter of time” before. Thank you for that and for your comment!
Courage to do the right thing is the father of time. Works well, too.
Resilience is what I hope for the next four years and beyond, especially for those of us who are troubled or frightened or suffer losses in some way because of the election’s outcome.
I volunteer at the local humane society and work with cats and kittens that need extra attention to be adoptable. When I first meet them, their emotions range from tentativeness to terror, from distrust and anger to the clueless bewilderment some two month olds feel when they’re first taken from their mothers.
Many of them, especially the older cats, have been through so much – abandonment, abuse, neglect – as much if not more than some of us and yet most of them start to purr in a few days, a week or two, some of them overnight.
Seeing terror subside in a pair of beautiful green eyes, feeling a tiny body start to relax, watching a 10 year old find the kitten in herself, being witness to their amazing resilience is a constant inspiration.
So my hope for us is that we find our resilience, the life-sustaining, hope-sustaining resilience in ourselves and that we encourage and inspire others to find theirs.
Together, we survive.
I woke up in a different world this morning. An older world.
I went to sleep on November 5th.
I wake up in 1933, on April 7th, in Göttingen.
Our beautiful city has been at the center of The Enlightenment. In our university, researchers have autonomy, freedom from religious supervision and other meddling. Here, we teach all students equally, rich or poor. We are a magnet for mathematicians, scientists, thinkers from all over Europe. Music thrives here.
This morning, the Civil Service Restoration Act creates a National Professional Civil Service. Non-nationals can no longer teach, practice law, or provide medical care.
My friends, my neighbors, all you good and kind people all around, let’s come together. We will not let it happen. We will not flee; we will find a way. Never mind the “leaders” we have relied on to ‘fix things.” It is up to us to care for each other, and for our planet. It always was.
I wake up this morning and I know this much: history does not have to repeat itself. The outcome is not carved in stone. It’s up to us, good people, every day, to create the future.
Together, we survive.