Love Trumps Hate.

It’s been… a week.  A hard week to watch unfold around me.  Working with an organization completely dedicated to the education system in this country made the Betsy DeVos hearing videos that much harder to watch.  I’ve barely brought myself to look at any articles about Trump’s inaugural address; the only thing I paid attention to was how few people were at the inauguration.  I try not to think about it too much all at once because it just feels so overwhelming to accept who and what our president is at this point.  It’s hard to imagine just how life is going to change, and what it will mean for our future once it does.  The unpredictability and fear is a lot to process, and I just don’t know how to feel about it yet.

But today gave me hope.  Admittedly I haven’t participated in any protests against the presidency.  Part of it might just be because I’m not much of a crowd person and introverted, but it also lets me process everything on my own terms.  However, I cannot begin to express how proud I am not only of my friends and family that went to the marches (shoutout to Mom for going to Madison!), but of the entire world.  Seeing my Facebook newsfeed and Snapchat filled with pictures, articles, and support in general of the Women’s Marches was almost overwhelming, in the most positive and opposite way that Donald Trump is overwhelming for me.  What I did not realize going into today was the fact that the marches took place in every single state and every single continent.  Everyone knows the election was a shitshow, but the gatherings of people standing in solidarity with one another almost makes all of that disappear for me.

I have had multiple posts about the way I view the world, how I place my faith in people and that ultimately things will work out.  Today was a representation of all of that on the highest level possible.  People continents away sending their love to a nation with an unknown future.  Neighbors, strangers, friends, and family standing together for a single sentiment: love.  Love is the very thing that keeps hope alive, that lets us know that while there may be dark times ahead for many of us, things can still get better because of the humanity that lies within all of us.  They can always get better.  Donald Trump’s election made it so hard to remind myself of that, but today changed that.  The “Love Trumps Hate” slogan is not a new thing, but this time it has spoke so strongly to me because I could see it happening.  Millions of people around the world were sending their love to those who truly need it today, and this is the fullest my heart has felt in a long time.

To Donald Trump: we’re still standing.  We’re still fighting.  We will not be defeated.