What do we do now after The Elections?

I am writing this on Tuesday November 3, 2020 at 12:40 pm in the afternoon. There is a great deal of nervous energy, fear, concern and so much else all around us on so many levels. So many feel these sentiments and in many cases for vastly different reasons. What WILL our world look like and what will the future portend tomorrow morning, in four days, in a few weeks? How will we all react and adjust – for no matter who is elected as President of the United States and who controls the Senate and Congress, there is so much work to do.

The Hate Crimes rate is at an all-time high according to the FBI, ADL and other monitoring groups. Virtually all groups that could be seen as minorities or different (e.g. not white home-grown Americans, whatever that is) are at risk. ALL LIVES MATTER and it is so sad to me that we have to even say that.

We have all felt the impact of the Corona virus as it has wreaked havoc in our lives in so many ways. Entire industries and areas of activity are compromised, have to close or pare down, and generally we are all stressed due to limitations on our activities and many feeling that their world is so much smaller without travel, seeing close friends and family, working and schooling at home and so on. The environment is also dealing its blows with climate change and so many people feeling the results of horrendou storms and worse.

Concerns about voter suppression and attempts to control the election are rampant. Respect for too many of our leaders and the offices they hold has been severely compromised and not even held by too many. This country and its foundational principles are very much in question and too many of us feel that this is not the USA we have known all of our lives, with its warts, imperfections, disagreements and conflicts.

This election, regardless of the results WILL NOT SOLVE ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS, but rather hopefully signal the beginning of the extremely hard work it will take to address them. We know all too well it is much easier to let go of standards of behavior and ethical barometers than to put them back into their proper place. We will have to commit ourselves to doing this together and in many cases to work across differences in doing so, in order to begin addressing all of the other challenges that confront us collectively.

It is my fervent hope that we can all begin this work soon, and as fearful as I am that this may not be the case, I am just as concerned about relationships, families and friendships that have been compromised in THIS CIVIL WAR of words, screaming, violence and lack of understanding and empathy. There is a piece going around on Facebook reminding us that our family and friends, our neighbors and community members and all those in our orbit will still be here to help each other, to raise each other up to the challenges that await us or the reality that may require more perseverance and patience on our part than we think we even have. Let us all COMMIT TODAY BEFORE THE COUNTING OF THE VOTES TO BE HERE FOR EACH OTHER. CALL SOMEONE WHOSE POLITICS ARE DIFFERENT THAN YOURS AND REMIND THEM YOU LOVE THEM. For tomorrow, or next week, or next month some people will definitely be upset and we need to be here to support and help each other. Only then will we be able to move forward.

May G-d above truly bless all of us, the United States of America and shine light on us as we have been experiencing way too much darkness.