Brief and healing, it’s a process. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross was a social scientist and she came up with this framework for understanding losses in life. We usually think of grieving in terms of a loss of life, a father, mother, child. Basically someone you loved (or even hated) passes away and now you are left to deal with that loss. Grieving is a process.
Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. Take any loss like losing a beloved object or even losing a national election. Donald Trump has fallen to Sleepy Joe Biden. He clearly will be in the Denial Phase for quite a while. Maybe the rest of his life most likely. Knowing his personality type. But what about the Mighty MAGA-ites out there who believed in the man and what he was all about. Those of us who voted for Biden-Harris shouldn’t gloat nor take a victory lap. Those individuals who wanted Trump above all else because he was a business man, strong man, threatened to lock up anyone who opposed him, disparaged women who threatened him, hid out in a bunker when he thought the citizenry turned against him, so he enlisted the national guard to clear out the protesters and stood in front of a church that he probably never went inside previously and held a bible in hand for a photo op looking like he was afraid it would set his hand on fire…. yeah that Donald Trump.
Anger. Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Don’s followers may go through all of these on different days and maybe all of them on the same day. Those of us who haven’t supported or voted for the man, need to take the high road. Especially now. If you believe in the Golden Mean and that the real work happens in the center, centrist, fiscally conservatives, then its time for peace, love, and understanding. Kindness, listening, being there. There are still dark days ahead of us. Avoid us and then language. Repair and heal our country and if we are all doing our part, it’s all okay, it will be okay.
A playlist for 2020, for me, would include Angus & Julia Stone’s “It’s all Okay.”
These are the best of times and the worst of times.
Wise words from Charles Dickens. Words that seem to be written for 2020. Put yourself in the “other’s” shoes. Think if Trump would have won and we’d have another 4 years of reality TV leadership. Let the healing begin. Let that shit go. Seek out friendships across the aisle. What’s so funny about peace, love, and understanding? Elvis? Costello? Well all sorts of jokes could be made about those hippie-ish words? But take them seriously and let the healing begin. Nationally allow the grieving to begin for what our country has gone through. Let the healing begin. Peace out. All good, but, difficult times, but necessary to heal.
ZandMe's 999 Good Things 