Help from Heidi: Home of the Brave

Dear Heidi,

As all this election uproar continues, I am honestly terrified about what is going to happen next. What are your thoughts?

Sincerely,

Future Canadian Citizen

Dear Future Canadian Citizen,

Honestly, I am completely there with you. I am petrified as to what the future holds for the country and our government. After seeing how half of the American population has reacted to the election results nationwide, it seems as if we are witnessing the country progressively crumble apart.

On election night, I was one of the many who stayed up till 3 A.M, watching the polls from the start of the night till the very end of Trump’s victory speech. And if I’m being completely candid, as I watched the votes for Trump continue to escalate in North Carolina, Florida and Pennsylvania a small part of me felt like I was suffocating. There I was, sitting on the couch in boarding, surrounded by people whom I consider my sisters, and sobbing with each and every one of them.

The next morning was hard. Actually, it was devastating. As I walked into school, I came face to face with many people I care about, having to be a shoulder to cry on as each posed the same question: How could this happen?

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While I don’t know the exact answer to this question, I myself was actually given some really insightful advice about how to handle this predicament. It’s all about acknowledgment. We do not need to accept anyone else’s beliefs or change our own to fit the mold of someone else’s. But, we do need to accept that this is a two-way street and that our counterparts have the right to do the same.

For me, while I am frustrated and concerned for what a Trump presidency will look like, unfortunately, I still have to try to come to terms with the fact that there is nothing I or anyone else can do to change the facts. He will be our next president whether we like it or not.

That being said, I am not going to tell you to “get over it” or to move on. For many of us, the cut is still fresh, and the wound simply needs time to heal. I think it’s clear that a lot of us are still dealing with the aftershock of this very grueling, controversial election.

While I don’t know your political beliefs, regardless of how you viewed the outcome of the election, just take the time you need to respond in the way you see appropriate, even if that means abruptly removing yourself from a heated conversation. You may be like me right now, scrambling to sort together the pieces and figure out where to go from here. Or, you may just be lost, unsure of what to think anymore. Either way, it’s okay.

At this point, truly all we can do is have faith in our governmental system and that regardless of who we supported initially, our system will keep the power in balance. There is nothing wrong with being concerned about the future of our country. But it’s our job, as millennials especially, to not give up on our government and its ability to bounce back from even the worst of calamities, to be brave, to fight back. We have to have hope; we just have to.