Good News on Election Day--Seriously

photo by Lorie Shaul / flickr

Not all of us were pleased with this election. Understatement. In fact Hillary Clinton got almost 3 million votes more than Donald Trump. He denies this just as he has had the audacity to deny that his Inaugural crowd was nothing like the last Inaugural crowd President Obama had. He blames these figures on the lying media. Not a smart move to continually blame negative truths on those who will be following and reporting on you. 

Mr. Trump is the President of the United States and he deserves some respect. But that does not mean that we ignore his lies--which are continual--his exaggerations which never stop--or his thin-skinned response to every slight. When he receives 2000 of these criticisms a day--as do all the Presidents--will he short circuit? But if we disapprove of the direction he is taking us--we have not only the right but the responsibility to raise our voices.

People mutter everywhere I go the last few days: "What are we gonna do?" The mood is sour. But we must find ways to be healthy in an unhealthy time. I remember in Victor Frank's book,  Man's Search for Meaning. He was incarcerated by the Nazis and was tortured. He survived. When he was asked how he stood the torture and the prison he said: "They can take away much of our lives--but they cannot take away how we look at things. Or who we are." I paraphrase but we need to find ways to stay spiritually and emotionally healthy during these days that many of us consider dark indeed.

Maybe turning off the TV some and maybe backing away from the internet sites might help.  A steady diet of the wrong food swill make us sick. John Houston, the famous Hollywood director was once asked about the difficulty of making good movies when there were so many demands for bad or low-grade films. He told the story of an old man who sat in a doorway with his hound dog. Another man came by carrying a paper bag full of candy. The man said, "That's a mighty nice dog you got there--reckon he might like some of my candy?" The man in the doorway replied, "Well,  he eats garbage, so he ought to be crazy about candy." Mr. Houston said, "Unfortunately the taste for garbage can be developed like the taste for olives." We have to find ways to taste the olives and shun the garbage.

One of my favorite columnist is Nicholas Kristof. He wrote this wonderful column that expresses my feelings about this election and new administration as much as anything I know. I recommend his words.  He entitles his Sunday article in the New York Times," Is Everything As Bad As It Seems?" Mr. Kristof is no pollyanna yet he looks around him and sees much that lifts his heart. Maybe we need to find ways to do this too. Read his article--it might help your perspective. I know it did mine.

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com