The day after the election, I woke up and cried.
Now, it wasn't particularly about my candidate winning or losing, it was more of the fact that I had logged onto Facebook and Twitter. Almost every post I saw was all about this deep sadness and fear that people were feeling and it was overwhelming.
I hadn't expected the Day After to affect me like that.
I went about my day hearing the anger and sadness all around me and honestly, by the end of the day, I was worn out. I felt helpless. It was a tough day not only for me, but for my friends as well.
And I hurt seeing my friends hurt. It broke my heart.
Over the course of that day and the following couple of days, I would see articles and republicans saying that "Christian Values" had won. But as a Christian, I didn't see my values reflected in Donald Trump, I didn't see my values reflected in the election like that.
Some of my other Christian friends and family would argue differently, and that's fine, they're entitled to their opinion. But for me, seeing so many people hurt, so many people scared, so many people arguing and fighting, and so many people committing hateful acts, it felt like my Christian values had lost that day.
In the Bible, Jesus says to "Love your Neighbor as yourself." and most of the New Testament is for the inclusion of Gentiles when so many Jews argued that Gentiles could never receive the Love of God. As a Christian, I strongly believe in Jesus' call to action, his call to love our Neighbor as ourselves. I try to live that out by loving everyone around me as strongly as I can, by supporting them and being there for them in whatever way that means.
1 Corinthians 13:4-13
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.....13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
When Donald Trump says that he'll ban thousands of Muslims and enact an intense terrorism screening test, that doesn't feel like love. Love believes in recognizing Muslims as people too, acknowledging that the majority of them just want to live their lives peacefully, and understanding that extremism happens even at home, with people already in America.
When Donald Trump says that he's going to build a wall and deport thousands of illegal immigrants, that doesn't feel like love. Many of these illegal immigrants brought their children over with them, who weren't old enough to have a say in anything. And I feel it is cruel to treat them like criminals when all they want is to have a better life. Since coming to Grand View, I have seen so many hard working immigrants and I believe that they deserve every chance to work hard and help contribute to America.
When Donald Trump says things like, "grabbing them by the pussy" and saying hateful things about the disabled and women on video, it makes me sick. At my Lutheran high school, speech like that wouldn't have been tolerated. My uncles and cousins would never even dream of speaking like that.
And when Donald Trump boasts about his "business skills", or is easily angered and sends out his angry tweets, or says that he's going to go after all the people who spoke bad about him during his campaign, I don't see Love.
So while I don't believe that my "Christian Values" won, I do believe that we've come into a time when we can really show people what Love is. We can be patient and listen to our friends when they're upset or scared. We shouldn't use this election to dishonor others, become self-seeking, or easily angered. We should have righteous anger, but we should make sure we know why we are angered and if we act on it, we act on it in honorable ways.
We should not keep records of wrong doings held against us. We should use this time to seek the truth and encourage our Presidents to do so too. We should protect our friends and family, always hope that tomorrow will be brighter, and always preserve in the knowledge that as long as there is goodness, evil has not won.
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."