The Day Love Lost
Yesterday I bought a shawarma for my friend and as I gave it to her, I said, “Savor it. It could be the last shawarma you have before Trump becomes president.”
Of course, I was joking.
This morning she gave me a post-Trump Oreo.
I don’t know what to say about the election. As a Muslim African who doesn’t live in the US, I can pretend not to care because I don’t live there, but as a Muslim African who doesn’t live in the US, I am aware of the fact that who America chooses as a leader has an impact on the rest of the world.
JK Rowling said it best in her Harvard address, “The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden. If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change.”
Somewhere along the line, that message was lost when people went to vote yesterday. I was depressed in the morning when I discovered that Trump had 244 electoral votes. Just like many people, I was crushed when he won Pennsylvania.
I distractedly wore my shirt the other way round…which makes sense considering it said, “Love” at the front.
Because “Love” lost today.
What won was a narrative that appealed to people’s sense of fear; fear of immigrants, fear of Muslims, fear of…but you know what? Everybody’s afraid. And I don’t know how a campaign that thrived on dividing the nation would assuage those fears.
Only time will tell.
In the meantime, the rest of the world will be watching.
If you liked this post, like the FB pagehttps://www.facebook.com/AH-Scribbles-1699410536954329/, and subscribe to the mailing list on the blog; http://ahscribbles.com
Also, check out my short story collection, “All Bleeding Stops and Other Short Stories from the Kenyan Coast,” and the non-fiction book summarizing a lot of ideas in the personal development field if you want to change your life but don’t know where to start, “Mine your inner resources”.
