Divided we fall

I remember, as a child, seeing several major events play out on TV.

I remember watching east and west Germans chip away at the Berlin Wall, eventually removing whole slabs at a time. I remember a man wearing blue jeans and a windbreaker jacket, the kind that everyone owned in the '80s, swinging one leg over the wall and then the other while thousands of people cheered. 

I remember when they pulled baby Jessica out of the well, bandaged up and wide-eyed.

I remember watching Ronald Regan on TV. I knew him only as a president. It was not until many years later that I learned that he had also been an actor. 

I remember the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. The one that happened during the World Series and was hence broadcast on live TV from Candlestick Park. (Mike's uncle was at that game). I remember seeing the images of the freeway that had collapsed onto the other. It literally looked like a sandwich.

I remember hearing about HIV and AIDS for the first time, and that poor kid who contracted it when he got a blood transfusion.

I remember bits and pieces of the fall of the Soviet Union, though I had no idea what it meant at the time. 

I remember the Oklahoma City bombing. I walked in to my 8th grade art class and it was on the TV, the entire side of the building just gone. 

I remember WACO, the FBI and various other law enforcement teams staged outside the compound.
I remember when the smoke first started rising from the building, then becoming fully engulfed minutes later. 

I remember the Unabomber guy, Ted Kczynsky. The cabin he had been living in in the Montana wilderness was loaded onto a trailer and transported to wherever the trial was being held for evidence. It passed through Pocatello on its way there.

I remember Ruby Ridge unfolding.  That was when I learned that northern Idaho was known for white supremacist nuts.

I remember when the space shuttle Columbia exploded upon re-entry in 2003, when the Gulf War was declared, when there were riots in Los Angeles. I remember watching Rodney King on TV, then OJ Simpson years later. 

I remember the Lewinsky scandal, then the Y2K hype.

I remember the shooting at Columbine High School and listening to the media and so-called experts try to figure out why the Eric and Dylan did what they did.

Also the deadly Great White nightclub fire, the capture of Saddam Hussein, Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, both of the Bush presidential campaigns, Bill Clinton's campaign, Obama's campaign, Al Gore trying to bring attention to global warming.

And of course, 9/11. Everyone remembers that day more than most others. Who they were with, where they were standing and of course that sinking, sick feeling that still manifests on each anniversary.

This week's events have made me think about a lot of things. I've thought about how scared my mom and dad must have been during the recession in the 80s, the seemingly constant war in the Middle East, the way that, despite everything we've learned, everything we've been through we aren't really better off. 

There have only been three times that I was afraid, genuinely worried and scared to the point that I can actually feel it in my body: April 20, 1999, September 11, 2001 and November 9, 2016.

I'm trying to be optimistic.

I believe in the freedom of assembly, free speech, the right to bear arms . . .
but I also believe in liberty and justice for all.

It's horrible to think that the person we've choose to lead us has assaulted women, thinks Mexicans are rapists and Muslims are terrorists.

I am not a raging feminist or anything, but it makes me sick to think that the guy making decisions regarding women's rights has said that flat-chested women can't be "tens," that he can do anything he wants to them because he's famous, and that they don't need to be respected. How does someone say things like that and then get elected president?

And then ban an entire religion? Muslims are not all terrorists any more than all Christians are members of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Mexicans are rapists and murderers? So are many caucasian American-born citizens, should we kick them out too?

We've spent years, decades working toward equality.  All men are created equal. . . . all of that is now being threatened by someone who thinks he can buy people.

Calls to suicide and LGBT hotlines have more than doubled in volume since Tuesday. Many people now have the idea that discriminating against people because of the color of their skin, religion or sexual preference is OK. He's endorsed by the KKK for hell's sakes. But that's Ok, right?

A friend of mine married a Hispanic man and they have three awesome kids. Their nine-year-old was told by classmates that he better go start building the wall and then climb over it. These are elementary school aged kids. My gay and lesbian friends are scared and confused. No one is born with hate, it's taught, and now it's being taught on one of the biggest stages in the world — American politics.

We tell our daughters that they are beautiful no matter what, that the size of your waist and chest don't matter, and yet we'll soon be governed by someone who basically thinks women are sexual objects. I can't be OK with that.

I think what terrifies me the most is that we've gotten to the point where many people feel that this is our best option. What have we become as a society that we're willing to not only accept this but endorse it?  How is it that we have gotten so out of control that we feel we need something this radical? JFK is rolling in his grave.

People are desperate for change, and I get that. Believe me I am all for some drastic changes in the way our government handles things. But it seems like a giant rift has opened, and instead of trying to fix it or figure out what caused it to open in the first place people are picking sides and are not willing to build a bridge until the other side admits they're wrong.

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." We're supposed to be making things better for EVERYBODY, we are supposed to be UNITED.  We have not been this divided since the Civil War.

United we stand. Divided we fall.

This is still a democracy, and I'll take that over a dictatorship any day. The fact that we had an election is proof that we are free, and I don't take that for granted. I don't care who you voted for, I have friends and family on both sides of this divide. I'm just a bit freaked out.

But like I said, I am being optimistic. Maybe optimism is for fools, I don't know, but some times you have to be or you'll go nuts. The sun will come out tomorrow!

There's a few things I like to conclude with: Don't rely on someone else to prompt you to be a good person. Don't hate some one just because they voted the way they did, hating a person based on who he or she voted for makes you no better than people who hate others because they are gay or straight. You don't have to agree with someone to respect them. Many people think this really sucks, and I have to admit I am one of them, but all we can do now is move forward, change what we can, accept what we can't change, and be wise enough to know the difference.

You cannot change who is president. You can donate to your local food bank. You can't change whether or not we go to war — again. You can start a coat drive at your place of work. Take this frustration and anger you're feeling right now and apply it to something positive.