Love Didn’t Die.

But hate is stronger than I thought. And it is not going to be ok. For at least two years, the GOP will have unfettered control of the government, headed by a man willing to do despicable things to enact an agenda that is driven by the worst kind of bigotry and sleaze. It is not ok.

Already recriminations. It was third party voters or it was the failure of white women to vote for a white woman in great enough numbers. I don’t subscribe to this. The blame – or credit – for an election goes to the people who voted for the winner. Whatever happens from here, I will not blame those who supposedly didn’t do enough. This belongs to those who did too much.

Hate swept my nation yesterday. Hate and rage and fear and paranoia. And it won the day. But it cannot win me. And it cannot win anyone who chooses to look at others and see people rather than barbarians. To look for the humanity in our friends, our neighbors, and even our enemies.

I will not hate you. Not if you are an immigrant. Not if you are a Muslim. Not if you are a woman. Not if you are black. Not if you are Jewish. Not even if you are a white nationalist. I cannot be made to hate. But I am so sad in the face of hate. I find the ideas that took hold yesterday as the day drained away into a horrifying night to be utterly reprehensible. Utterly vile. And I will not appease them.

Love didn’t die. I see brave people staggering, bewildered, this morning. I see my friends’ faces ashen and tear streaked. And I know that their anguish stems from their horror. Because we all believe, rooted in bedrock, that love is real. But hate has triumphed today.

Those of us with love to give and means to spare will be called upon in the coming years to make sacrifices on the part of love, to support those that our government will abandon. To welcome those our government will shun. To protect those our government will persecute. We will need to show our love with acts and with dollars.

Prove it with me. Prove that love didn’t die.