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What do we tell the children?

The first piece I saw freaking out over the Trump victory was from the Huffington Post on What do we tell the children?

When I hear that I begin to wonder “what HAVE you been telling the children?”

If this is any indication this is how it started. This is how they started…

Tell them, first, that we will protect them. Tell them that we have democratic processes in the U.S. that make it impossible for one mean person to do too much damage.

Ummm. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. Jefferson wasn’t above having children with his and not regarding them publicly as his children. Andrew Jackson was remembered as an Indian fighter or “sharp knife” by the Cherokee. Read about the Creek wars.

James Polk had a vision for a nation from “sea to shining sea” and so started a war with Mexico to cease New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada.

It’s important to tell comfort a very young child that they are safe, but at some point you have to let them into to the facts that this world is not a safe place.

“Well the World Changed Last Night…” 

Aaron Sorkin, powerful, influential screen writer wrote a letter to his daughters.

Well the world changed late last night in a way I couldn’t protect us from. That’s a terrible feeling for a father. I won’t sugarcoat it—this is truly horrible. It’s hardly the first time my candidate didn’t win (in fact it’s the sixth time) but it is the first time that a thoroughly incompetent pig with dangerous ideas, a serious psychiatric disorder, no knowledge of the world and no curiosity to learn has.

I’ll give Sorkin points for at least fessing up that even he, a man with enormous wealth and influence, far greater than anyone in this room knows he can’t protect his daughters from “damage”. At the same time the standard of “mean” seems to go out the window as long as you believe your political adversary is wrong or even evil. But did the world really change last night?

We should be fair to note that 8 years ago when Barack Obama won the presidency we heard a different message.

It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

We might now look at this and note that change keeps coming, not always in the ways we might want.

Your Hopes are Misplaced

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