So… Trump is president. I made my feelings pretty clear about Trump in my last article, which came out before he was elected. Those feelings have not changed, at all. The fact that he is now elected, doesn’t mean that the way I feel about him has changed. In fact, I’m more terrified than ever. Already friends of mine have been harassed on the streets by Trump supporters. We made history, but not exactly in the best way.
But, I digress. I’m not going to speak about just what I think of Trump. Instead, I’m using this platform to bring something to light that I’m not sure many people have thought about. Don’t get me wrong, it has to do with the Trump election, but not about him specifically.
I’m talking about the National Suicide Hotline. It’s an amazing resource. But, when Trump got elected, it started getting more calls than it could handle and was backed up so much that they were searching for more people to volunteer. Many in this country are now living in more fear than ever before. So many people, felt utter despair because of this election, that they basically made the national suicide hotline go down.
A couple days ago, I actually called them at around 3:30am. I was having a bad night. My depression about the state of the world as well as my incredible homesickness combined with sleeplessness equals a really bad time for me. So I called, knowing everyone I knew was asleep or, in the case of my family in Belgium whom I live so far from, at their jobs. I didn’t know what else to do, so I called. (Disclaimer, I don’t want to make this about my story with depression. I am merely setting the stage.)
When I called, I got the usual greeting message. Something along the lines of, “Thank you for calling. We will connect you with a counselor shortly,” followed by elevator music. For about 20 minutes, the process of “Thank you for staying on the line. I’m none of the counselors are available right now. We will connect you as soon as we can” followed by elevator music repeated. Over and over again, with the same song playing every time.
After about 20 minutes, I hung up, not wanting to stay on the phone and listen to the same message again. I ended up calling another hotline called the Trevor Project (LGBTQIA+ inclusive) and got connected with someone there and was able to talk some things out with them, and then eventually went to sleep.
It is incredibly sad to me that this election drove so many people to feel so hopeless that they were willing to end it all. And yes, I agree, it’s bad. Really, really, really bad. People need to grieve how they are going to grieve, and that takes on many different forms.
But not all is lost. Even though it feels hopeless, it’s not. I know it’s hard, and exhausting, but we will fight. This can be a time of unity among those whose lives are in immense danger because of trump. We will rally together and make our voices heard. If nothing else, we will elect people into Congress and such that will make it hard for Trump to pass some of his laws. We will make our voices heard. A good friend of mine said “This is what we are stuck with for the next 4 years, so let’s make our demands known! Let Trump know exactly what we the people want.” We will come together, fight and support one another.
I know people still need time, and since it’s so fresh, I agree that we don’t have to take up arms right now. For now, be with your loved ones. Spend time with them as much as you can, be that your friends or your family. Surround yourself with people you love and who love you in return. As someone who does not have her immediate family (who also happen to be the people I love most in the world), I encourage all who can be with your loved ones. Grieve together and help each other heal.
Once the grieving is done, we shall take up our armour and our weapons of words and art and everything in between. And we march. And we fight.
