Post-Election Grief & Words of Hope
By Martie Hevia | Blue Beach Song™
It has been a few days since Tuesday’s election. The stunning shock, disbelief and disillusionment of election night, morphed into fear, despair and grief the next morning, as the cold feeling of reality flowed through me with the realization that it had not been a nightmare.
Things did not turn out the way I had hoped. Hillary Clinton, for whom I voted, lost to Donald Trump.
I was not voting between equally flawed candidates or for the lesser of two evils, as the media kept pounding into our heads, I voted for Hillary Clinton. I voted for someone who was supremely qualified, experienced, prepared, and well-intentioned.
I voted for the first woman president of the United States. And, yes, I hoped we would finally shatter that glass-ceiling. The glass ceiling that has told little girls, long before I was a little girl, that you can look through it, but you cannot reach beyond it to the presidency. You can look at what is possible for little boys, but not for little girls. I voted for someone who was a role-model, a trail-blazer, inspiring little girls to dream big.
I voted for a life-long children’s advocate; for a warrior on women’s rights; for a voice that gave voice to the disenfranchised and the disabled. I voted for someone who has long defended the rights of ethnic, racial and religious minorities. I voted for someone with decades of fighting for LGBTQ rights and freedoms, the rest of us take for granted. I voted for someone who would protect voting rights and a woman’s right to choose through Supreme Court appointments.
“Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton
I voted for someone with plans, not platitudes. I voted for someone who would be able to strengthen the economy for all and to bring back the middle class. I voted for someone who would address the concerns of the elderly, the working poor, and the debt-laden students. I voted for someone who had long-championed the cause of healthcare, as a right for all, not just the well-off.
Speaks to the U.N. 4th World Conference
on Women Plenary Session.
Delivered 5 September 1995, Beijing, China
I voted for someone the world could respect and in whom they would find a worthy friend or adversary. I voted for someone who would stand with our NATO allies, as they have stood with us, and stand-up to those who would do us harm. I voted for someone who would respect our commitments to the United Nations and the world. I voted for someone who can navigate the intricate and delicate diplomacies, histories, and balance of powers around the world. I voted for someone who appreciates that we are a beacon of hope to so many in desperate times.
I voted for someone who acknowledges the dangers of global warming; who understands that pollution respects no national boundaries; and who would help us fight to protect the environment, as good stewards of our planet, for future generations and for all species with whom we share this spinning blue rock in space.
I voted for someone, but I also voted against bigotry, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, racism, and religious intolerance. I voted against someone who spewed hate and encouraged violence; someone who sought to divide and conquer; someone who sowed discord and distrust. I voted against white supremacists and the KKK. I voted against Russian influence on and manipulation of our election. I voted against someone who lied more than he spoke the truth; someone who bullied and humiliated; someone who lacked knowledge and understanding of the issues and the world around us. I voted against ignorance, fear, and greed.
I voted against the incessant persecution and double-standard foisted on Hillary Clinton by a powerful Republican congress. I voted against a corporate-owned mass media that falsely equated the flaws of the two candidates because they found more value in ratings and entertainment, than in fairly doing their job and informing the public as the solemn duty that is theirs as the Fourth Estate.
What was an easy choice for me, apparently was not for others. And even though Hillary Rodham Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2.7 Million votes (and still counting* as of December 4, 2016), Donald Trump will be president once the electors of the electoral college meet and vote on December 19th to give him the 290 pledged electoral votes and Clinton her 228. Some are hoping against hope that a petition at Change.org, asking at least 42 electors to switch their vote to Hillary Clinton, will give her the required 270 electoral votes required to be president, which they could do, but probably won’t.
In all likelihood, Donald Trump will become the president and the majority of us who voted for Hillary Clinton will need to work our way through the five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. We will need to re-direct our efforts to supporting the issues and groups we hold dear; standing up to bullies in all their incarnations; staying vigilant for abuses; voicing our concerns to each other, the media, and government officials; as well as, getting informed about and involved in the political process.
But it all begins with hope. Hope is the great motivator.
To that end, I have been seeking out, reflecting on, and collecting quotes with words of hope. Words have the power to heal. These words have helped me to find solace, to not give up, and to stay focused on the fight ahead. I hope they help you.
“Do all the good you can,
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as ever you can.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton
“[W]hen you stumble, keep faith…when you’re knocked down, get right back up…”
―Hillary Rodham Clinton
“Life is too short to dwell on what might have been.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton
“Every moment wasted looking back, keeps us from moving forward.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton
“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”
― Langston Hughes
“That is why enemies can be great motivators. They serve as fuel for your fire.”
― Simon Zingerman
“A winner is not someone who wins. It’s someone who tries and isn’t afraid to lose.”
― Nusrat Sultana
“Hope in the beginning feels like such a violation of the loss, and yet without it we couldn’t survive.”
― Gail Caldwell
“After all, tomorrow is another day.”
― Margaret Mitchell
“When all else is lost, the future still remains.”
― Christian Bovee
“Even if things aren’t going the way we want right now, we will always get through it.”
― Stacey T. Hunt
“Brooklyn was a dream. All the things that happened there just couldn’t happen…Or was it all real and true…?”
― Betty Smith
“In some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation…”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
“God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right, even though I think it is hopeless.”
― Chester Nimitz
“I plead with you–never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.”
― Pope John Paul II
“Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.”
―Robert H. Goddard
“Courage will now be your best defense against the storm that is at hand…”
― J.R.R. Tolkien
“The greatest act of faith some days is to simply get up and face another day.”
― Amy Gatliff
“Right now, we’re living in an ugly chapter of our lives, but books always get better!”
― Chris Colfer
“Hang in there. It is astonishing how short a time it can take for very wonderful things to happen.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett
“Fear is the glue that keeps you stuck.
Faith is the solvent that sets you free.”
― Shannon L. Alder
The Wrong shall fail,
the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“You couldn’t erase the past. You couldn’t even change it. But sometimes life offered you the opportunity to put it right.”
― Ann Brashares
“I am heartbroken, but I have been heartbroken before, and this might be the best for which I can hope.”
― Lemony Snicket
“Sometimes it’s easy to lose faith in people.
And sometimes one act of kindness is all it takes to give you hope again.”
―Randa Abdel-Fattah
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
― Nelson Mandela
“Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate.”
― G.K. Chesterton
“A tamed woman will never leave her mark in the world.”
― Robert M. Drake
“Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.”
― Roy T. Bennett
“Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden.”
― Cormac McCarthy
“A great hope fell
You heard no noise
The ruin was within.”
― Emily Dickinson
“Come friends, it’s not too late to seek a newer world.”
― Alfred Tennyson
“In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.”
― Barack Obama
“Au milieu de l’hiver, j’ai découvert en moi un invincible été.”
(“In the middle of winter, I discovered in me an invincible summer.”)
― Albert Camus
“Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.”
― Gore Vidal
“At what point do you give up – decide enough is enough?
There is only one answer really. Never.”
― Tabitha Suzuma
“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”
― Victor Hugo
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.”
― Mother Teresa
“You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better.”
― Yann Martel
“If we will be quiet and ready enough,
we shall find compensation in every disappointment.”
― Henry David Thoreau
“I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all.”
― Abraham Lincoln
“Do not lose hope — what you seek will be found…Trust dreams. Trust your heart, and trust your story.”
― Neil Gaiman
“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
― William Wilberforce
“Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien
“When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on”
― Theodore Roosevelt
“The first duty of a man is to think for himself”
― José Martí
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Remember, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
― Stephen King
“We need never be hopeless because we can never be irreparably broken.”
― John Green
“There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’”
― Dalai Lama XIV
“I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”
― Anne Frank
“Hope is a waking dream.”
― Aristotle
“We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming – well, that’s like saying you can never change your fate.”
― Amy Tan
“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.”
― Pablo Neruda
“In a time of destruction, create something.”
― Maxine Hong Kingston
“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien
“O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath —
America will be!”
— Langston Hughes
“Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
― Emily Dickinson
“Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.”
― Langston Hughes
“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.”
― John Lennon
Martie Hevia (c) 2016 | All Rights Reserved
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