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Men Are Still Good

I don't have the heart to write up what just happened three weeks ago. I don't have the stomach to hear from the far left about how Bernie Sanders would have clobbered the newly-elected President. I don't have the strength to voice all of my disgust about how a campaign built on exploiting the fears of white America and a rapidly-changing landscape and culture. The ugly reality that's staring us in the face is that come January 20th of next year, Barack Obama will exit the White House and Donald Trump, an unapologetic misogynist, xenophobic and racist man will become the nation's 45th Commander-in-Chief.

And honestly? I don't want to write that sort of piece. I'll leave that to better, more intelligent writers than myself. What's done is done, and the toothpaste can't be put back in its tube. Instead, I'd like to quote two characters who are speaking to us now in the coming storm that is Trump.

"Dark and difficult times lie ahead...And soon we must all face the choice between what is right, and what is easy." - Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Yes, we all will be going through dark times. And the time will come to either stand up to an orange-haired bully, call him out and use whatever means we have at our disposal to block him from the terrible policies he and an Republican-led Congress might enact, or to stay silent and let him do what he pleases in the name of not being targeted as un-American or unpatriotic. I know we're feeling anguish, hurt, fear, anger, rage and even perhaps hate for the millions of voters who backed Trump. I would be lying if I felt the same way as well. But we can't respond hate with hate; it must be countered with empathy and understanding.

If there's a shred of a silver lining to come out of this storm cloud, it's the following: Donald Trump has done and will continue to unite all of us - blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, women, the young, the LGBT community, liberals, independents, etc - in ways he cannot begin to comprehend. I've seen it. And I'd like to share it as I quote the last, and most recent, iteration of a comic book character.

"Men are still good. We fight. We kill. We betray one another. But we can rebuild. We can. We have to." - Bruce Wayne
Despite the ascension of white supremacists (they can call themselves the alt-right, but I feel we are doing a grave disservice by not calling these people for what they truly are) who feel emboldened by Trump's capture of the White House and the fear many of us feel as we brace ourselves for what is to come, I am encouraged by the outpouring of figures - journalists, artists, organizations - that are refusing to bow down to the incoming bully-in-chief, refusing to give into hate and fear. And I'm confident in a simple truth: that we will rebuild. We're going to have to.

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