A Post Election Lament

For so many of us, this is a day to mourn.
We are grieving a loss.
It steals our breath. It makes us afraid.

We feel tempted to focus on someone to blame,
Some individual or group on whom we could vent our
Anger, disappointment, and frustration.
We feel tempted to make explanations
That serve as excuses or that help us avoid
Our sorrow and pain.

A time for analysis will come
As will time (soon) for planning and resolve.
But today is a day to mourn,
To feel the pain of sincere and shattered dreams
And deferred hopes.

Our nation has chosen as president
A man who has won by bullying,
Proclaiming misinformation with confidence,
Stigmatizing, vilifying, and scapegoating.
He is a billionaire in money but poor in morality.
He has normalized bigotry and stirred embers
Of racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, and Islamophobia.
He has celebrated violence, torture, and war.
His personal life has been filled with infidelity, greed,
Broken promises and unabashed arrogance.

Our neighbors have chosen him.
Our neighbors have chosen him.

We feel embarrassed for our nation, afraid for our children,
Anxious for our allies, worried for our world.

We feel for our gay friends, our immigrant friends,
Our Native American, African American, and Latino friends -
Our friends who are Muslim, Sikh, or of other faiths
Who suffer the reality of prejudice and racism:
We mourn for how this election sucks the breath out of
People we know and love,
And we share their pain and feel it as our own.

We feel for our beloved earth that has been plundered and harmed
By human ignorance and greed, and we mourn
That this candidate has vowed to accelerate environmental
Destruction.

We understand that many of our neighbors are celebrating,
They find it hard to understand our grief.
So we who mourn must turn to each other,
To shed the tears we need to shed,
To allow one another to say the same things again and again:
We are devastated. We are disappointed.
We are concerned. We are angry.
We lost and we feel loss.

We must promise those who are afraid:
We will be there for you
No matter what.

We pray that our grief will make us better, not bitter.
We pray that the emotion of our mourning
Will water the seeds of our resilience.
We pray for our leaders, for our neighbors, for our nation,
For our children, for our world, for our future.
We pray for the grace to mourn, and then be prepared
To keep seeking first the justice, joy, and peace of God.
-Brian McLaren (who will always be a hero of mine!)