Maybe It's Time

Maybe instead of trashing the other party, it's time to work on ourselves. Time to stop calling someone "Hitler" just because we don't like him. Trump is not Hitler. He is Trump, a totally unique person. If you must hate, then hate Trump for who he is. Because when we call him "Hitler," we are a big part of our own problem.

While we're at it, maybe its time to stop calling people "Nazis" just because they have some conservative traditional values, time to stop calling people "fascists" just because they may be Christians. There are conservative traditional Buddhists, but we don't call them fascists; conservative traditional Hindus, but we don't call them Nazis; conservative, traditional, patriarchal leaders of indigenous tribes, but we don't call them bigots.

Maybe time to stop hating "corporations." The vast majority of U.S. corporations are small businesses, many owned by black and Latino women and men. In the hands of creative people, capitalist free-market economics can be a force for growth and community.

Maybe time to stop hating masculinity, "Western" culture, and "whiteness." We are all the human race. In the words of the Vedas, "Vasudhaiva kutumbakam: the world is one family."

Maybe time to stop herding ourselves into racial, gender, or grievance identity-groups, festered on the ethic of resentment. Time to value unique selves: not for the color of their skin but the content of their character, and the merit of their personal achievement.

Maybe, in fact, its time for us to stop hating us. If we didn't judge ourselves, we might not be so full of judgment against others. The problem with the people we hate is not that they are so different, but that they are too much like us: the parts of us we don't want to see, or feel, or acknowledge needing. So now that the election is over, let's have Compassion. Which must begin with this breath, this heartbeat, bravely singing its own special song of wonder and uncertainty.