Ladies & Gentlemen, We’re Floating In Space
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
As the above date specifies, it is December 1st, in our Lord’s year, 2016. Just kidding, god is dead, and now lower case, long live our new dear leader Donald! I don’t even know why I just said that. Frankly, I’ve never given a shit about politics, much to the chagrin of conservative and more liberal friends over the years. However, as one ages, it becomes hard not to recognize the good and bad surrounding your sense of a nation as a whole.
Growing up under the tutelage of two democrats, with occasional conservative leanings both economically and fiscally, but never socially or culturally, I was taught to accept others’ views because why should I believe someone else’s opinions to be inferior to my own? As a teenager, attending an incredibly liberal-leaning high school, I encountered almost universally the same democratic political opinions as my own, which wasn’t hard to find amongst teens during the Bush years. I did, however, have a close friend with strong conservative leanings.
I shouldn’t say did as he is still alive and well. As I get older though, I become more impressed by his passionate ability to look others in the eye at an age when all anyone wants is to be accepted and then vehemently disagree with everything they’re saying and not only stand his ground, but also make some outstanding points in the process. It should come as no surprise that he’s on his way to becoming a very successful attorney.
Granted, for someone with as strong of conservative leanings as he has, he’s still quite liberal on social and cultural issues. During our high school years, I sometimes thought he was destined for greatness in politics because of his moderate position in the grand scheme of conservatives vs. liberals. Remember, this was the mid to late 00’s, when political parties were looking for candidates towards the middle rather than doubling down on the extreme wings of their following. Fast forward to 2016 and his moderate stances would mark him as a traitor by many in his own party. Some party indeed.
Over the course of 2015 and 2016, I visited 16 countries across four continents, each of which possessed their own unique political systems and issues. For instance, every Indian I met on the subcontinent complained of Prime Minister Modi’s complete abandonment of governance while we went on a nation-wide tour for reelection. Same goes for the Kiwis I met across New Zealand who were protesting both corporations infringing on dolphin mating habitats and their country not allowing in enough Syrian refugees. Yes, you read that correctly. Brazilians couldn’t even begin to explain the corrupt nature of their crumbling political system and Thais were bracing themselves for the impending death of the world’s longest ruling monarch.
This was pre-Brexit and I was still guaranteeing Belgians, Canadians, and Australians alike that Trump had zero chance of even getting the nomination, let alone the presidency itself. To each and every person I said that to, I apologize, 1,000 times over. I’m sorry for filling you with any sense of false hope. May we worry and strategize together so that this never happens again. Amen.
If there was one thing I learned about my home country while I was away from it for nearly a year, it’s that our President, the position, not any individual, is seen in two different lights from the perspective of the world’s population. Most Americans view him for what he (I hope to be able to see he/she as soon as humanly possible, but these are the facts for now) does at home, in our country, and then there’s the rest of the world. Call me completely naive, but I had no concept of the president’s importance, and America’s for that matter, the world over.
Whether we want it this way or not, everything the United States does echoes throughout the rest of the world. Sometimes this is amazingly positive, like when Barack Obama acknowledged the horrifying UXO travesty is Laos or when he opened up arms offerings in Vietnam or when he has routinely attempted to mend our country’s relationship with Iran. Other times, not so much (insert almost any statement here that follows, “remember when the US did ________ in the Middle East and…”).
More so than just politics though, American culture, and yes, English and Canadian culture too, seep into every corner of the globe. Every shitty bar I visited on my trip was playing a mishmash soundtrack of Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift and I saw Deadpool with subtitles in Mandarin and Malay. Our world is shrinking and even if the United States isn’t quite the economic power we once were, this country still guides much of the rest of the world. So what happens when we put a maniac behind the wheel?
I believe in the power of positive thinking. I am an optimist. I believe in a person’s ability to change. I hope for the best. I preach empathy and compassion over judgement and destruction. The two men who will soon be running the country that I call home go against almost everything single thing that I feel in my heart of hearts, but I don’t find myself foaming at the mouth with anger and hatred. Maybe it’s because I feel so much of it already, maybe it’s because I’d rather meet fear and bile with discussion and contemplation. Call me naive or unrealistic, my liberal friends, go on and ye be merry if feeling like your world is going to end in January will bring you any semblance of peace. However, anger without action, much like positivity without recognition of reality, is pointless.
I have no idea what the next four years will be like in our country. I hope that our president elect will do incredibly good things and that all of us who doubt him to a fault are left with our mouths left hanging open in positive shock. I hope that the United States becomes a supportive partner in the issues facing our entire planet (i.e. ISIS, climate change, diminishing interest in space exploration). I hope that four years from now we are all in a better place than we are now. Just as it was eight years ago when an upstart Senator from Illinois took our national collective consciousness by storm, hope is what will be our guiding light through the very long, dark, and twisting tunnel that approaches.
This past weekend I went on a long run through Central Park as part of my training for an upcoming race. There were a few things that I learned over the course of that afternoon: Central Park has hills, horses are prone to shit wherever they please, and Trump’s black and gold tower that stands at the southwest corner of the park has never looked more menacing and apart from the rest of the midtown skyline as it does now. I hope that over time the gaudy phallus that stands to become The White House — North accepts its place amongst its neighbors as being part of a greater whole. I hope that running by that building won’t continuously fill me with confusion and disdain with each and every pass. I hope.
