The World's Gone Mad (Part

So the election is over and the US of A has been turned on its head. We all thought Hillary would win, which really was not even a question. Time Magazine had a beautiful cover of Madam President ready for press. The inauguration party was planned; I saw an invitation on Facebook. Kaboom! Not so fast! And then the world went mad. “How could this possibly be?”, cried some 55 million people (plus some 200 thousand more people than the total Trump supporters).

Reality is not what we thought it was. People are shocked, amazed and in total turmoil and chaos. Yoga speaks about an inner world and an outer world. Ideally, we are not to be controlled and dominated by the outer world. One works daily through prayer and meditation to gain a steadier inner world. However, today's outer world tells us the opposite. It says the outer world rocks and controls us, sends us into a frenzy. It stirs our emotions which are put in the forefront, and our emotions dictate reality. It is a collective neurosis, and personal responsibility has gone out the window. Everyone but me is responsible, not only for how I feel, but also responsible to make it better. Universities have cancelled exams and created even more safe spaces, with chocolate, crayons and puppy hugging. Seriously? It sounds like preschool and would be rightly appropriate for preschool.

We send our little ones out into the world for the very first time from the safe space of mommy’s and daddy's home. We want them to feel comforted and alleviated of their fears. But college campuses? Isn't this the very last stop on their way out of mommy’s and daddy's home? Isn't this where they are to have heated discussions, the free exchange of ideas and then be ready to face the big bad world? Believe you me, it is indeed a big bad world out there, painfully so at times. Look at our dear mother nature and how fierce she can be. I can assure you, human nature is not much softer at times (you need only scroll down my Facebook feed). My homosexual, Buddhist friend is posting a particularly provocative nude picture of Melania Trump. He calls her a SLUT in capital letters! Really? I cannot believe my eyes, and my heart feels just even more heavy. Are not major tenets of your religion compassion and empathy? Now you, who so detest those who morally judge your lifestyle, feel so free to do so to Melania? She is a woman who has been given the gift of physical beauty, and who am I to say she should not use that gift to gain power and financial gains in the world? Do I think women's power resides solely in her beauty? Very obviously not, but it is indeed a power that women have, along with intelligence and skills they can develop.

Since when did the liberal, tolerant, left become so incredibly intolerant? What happened to "love trumps hate" now? Another friend says that she has come to understand what happened as follows: 55 million people who voted for Trump are infected with a disease that in due season will take its course and be revitalized into something fresh, new, and good, kind of like the changing of seasons in nature. Another goes to the oft-repeated rhetoric that 55 million people are racist, bigots, homophobic and xenophobic. Neither of these friends mentioned the 55 million number, but I do because I think it is important. One, because it is a huge number, and two because how can you possibly simplify 55 million people into a few epithets or one pseudo-science diagnosis?

Anyone who is close with a family member or one long-term friend can attest to how understanding another human being fully is a really, really complex, multi-layered, multi-faceted task. So without being insensitive to anyone's pain, can we all grow up and act like responsible adults here and try to wrap our mind around what is really going on?

I, for one, although truly disheartened by hate (on any side) am absolutely fascinated by some of the more productive dialogue going on. I have been gaining perspective into worlds I know nothing about. One article was written by a single mother, Muslim immigrant. She explained that she felt unsafe in the current administration, having escaped horrible oppression herself in her homeland and seeing it come to America. She wanted Islamic terrorists to be called out by name and be reassured that she would not be faced with the very things she aimed to flee. She also had some disappointing issues with her Obamacare, and in the end it became too expensive to continue. So very interesting, who would have "thunk" it? Another show on NPR talked about how the democratic party's "identity politics" failed them. Women spoke out about how they felt insulted that it was assumed they would vote for a woman just because she’s a woman. These women want to be treated as full-thinking, feeling individuals, not reduced down to a statistic because of their gender.

Such informative and interesting conversations, but also how nice. How nice that people are indeed not so simplistic that we can figure them out by some hypothetical statistic based on gender, or race, or even religion. Can we not rejoice in the complexity and mystery of the human spirit and stop labeling and going to war with those we don’t understand at first glance? Or is that too scary a space? Is it a safer space to rest within our small world, convicted of our own rightness? The other 55 million plus is just a label, and ultimately the enemy, baffling as that may be.

I saw on Facebook a video of Donald Trump from many years ago, various interviews where he spoke of his love for this country. He was calm, quiet-spirited and sincere. It was lovely to see him speak from his heart long before political campaigns. I find extremely appealing the old footage of Hillary Clinton when she was fresh out of college. There she seems so bright and vibrant, ready to change the world – so lovely to see, before the political campaigns. I saw an old footage of Bernie Sanders.  He was young and handsome and looked so sensitive and vulnerable. He spoke of human beings. He was expressing how we are all intimately connected and affect each other in powerful ways, ways we cannot fully comprehend. It was beautiful and moving, so long before the campaigns. I think often on that Bernie Sanders video, and it reminds me of great music that seems to penetrate to the depth of our souls – no barrier of skin, flesh and bones.

I think about times when I have felt particularly down and vulnerable and the very powerful effect that can be made by one who loves and supports you, who comes in and sits in your presence. Sometimes a word or even a touch begins to diminish that power. But when someone is just there – no agenda to make better, just there, present with you – something magical happens, something deep and penetrating and unexplainable in words, but worth a million in feeling.