Reveal and Expand
Yesterday was election day in the United States of America - it was the most contentious, most expensive, most chaotic vote in history. Even as the votes were being cast, the federal government led by the current WH was seeking to disrupt and disenfranchise voters. Specifically, the federal government feared people going to the ballot box because it was becoming increasingly clear that the vote would reveal deep dissatisfaction with how things have been going since January 2025.
After enduring lies, corruption, cruelty at the hands of a government led by a group of people committed to destroying all the work done in recent history to expand opportunities to work and care for our people, the act of voting was the opportunity to say, "Stop.".
As I drove to get my mother's meal for the evening, I listened to a book on tape (not the reports on what was happening at the polls). I found myself among people who were carrying on their daily tasks of picking up groceries, dropping children off at a soccer field, and getting their cars filled with (very slightly less expensive) gas. Election day was calm at the high school and park where voting sites have been set up for years - at least it seemed so as I drove by the places where local folks could go to vote. In that moment, all the worry about violence, federal intervention, and immigration intimidation seemed like the kind of imagination that creates anticipatory hysteria - something we have grown accustomed to experiencing as non-white, children of immigrants. The antipathy that emanates from the WH toward our very presence in this country has been quite clear. It seems that being non-white, non-Christian can put a person at risk these days. So seeing people going about their usual day's activities revealed once again that we need to find a way to maintain balance. Expect, but don't expect.
My 95 year old mom has lost hearing and is losing sight (her mind is still quite intact!). She no longer wants to get in the car and drive to the grocery store just to walk around the aisles and push the grocery cart – it's too much energy output. So my visits with provisions, conversation, and food is the new social activity and even she has been caught up in the expansion of media coverage about the elections. She has a point of view that is expressed in one word: "crazy". This is a woman who lived through war, immigration into a society that was entirely foreign and without "a network" to support her, raised four children, studied to get a teaching credential, and taught in the L.A. public schools for more than two and a half decades. She lived having found a way to balance so many things. And that is what's really "crazy" when you think about it. How the heck did she do all that and manage to end up at 95, having left no burden on her children other than to take some of our time for errands and appointments, to ensure that she is comfortable as she finally comes to the last lap of her run on the planet, and to get to understand that life is really not that short, has lots of things to reveal, and requires us to expand our capacities beyond what we think we are able and willing to do.
Hopefully, we learn to appreciate even the hardships that come in life because if you're around long enough, maybe there will be a moment of relief from it all. It feels like the day after the elections in the United States of America is a moment of relief and a turning point. May it be so.