MOURNING IN AMERICA

This morning my fellow Americans elected Donald Trump to the presidency again. When I woke up, I was praying the headline I saw on the New York Times on my IPad would have been anything but Donald Trump is President-elect, and yet it was not to be. 

There are far too many columns that will be written about why this happened, and so I will not attempt to cover the same ground here. What I will do is describe how absolutely sick so many people whom I love feel today. My friends reached out by text, email, and phone describing how despondent they were. The most common word I heard was "numb," as in I cannot feel anything at all - probably because grasping the full implications of his win would be too hard to swallow. 

I thought about my friend with a transgender teenager who must be asking, "what place will there be for my child in America, and where will he be able to get his health care next year?" I thought about my dad who said he did not recognize the country he brought us to 40 years ago anymore. I thought about the people in my lab who came to this country for the unparalleled educational opportunities but who now feel as though their long-term status here is in doubt. 

It was a clinic day, so I also thought about my older, white patients - many of whom probably voted for Trump - and what might have motivated these decent men to make such a choice. How would I meet them today, feeling so much hurt and disappointment? 

In many ways, clinic was exactly what I needed today. Like every week, every patient was kind, thankful, and respectful. They acknowledged my humanity and appreciated that I did the same with them. There was an unspoken trust that only time and familiarity can create. In short, they made me hopeful that we are not as divided a people or as broken a nation as we think. Our differences pale in comparison to our similarities, and our destinies are often unwittingly tied together with those whose paths we could only cross on this greatest and most diverse nation on earth. 

I wish I could wave a magic wand and create a different outcome, but I cannot. However, I do believe that we, the people from all sides of the political, racial, and religious spectrum are the only way we will solve our collective problems. With finite grief but infinite will, I will put one foot in front of the other and never give up on trying to make this country a better place for my kids and yours. What a country and world it would be if more of us felt and acted the same way?

I will leave you with this poem shared by my sister today. May it bring you some measure of solace.