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Why I'm not moving to Canada and I hope you don't either

Dear fellow Americans,

Yesterday I woke up singing "sister suffragette" with misty eyes.

 "Cast off the shackles of yesterday
 shoulder to shoulder -
into the fray!"

Not because I love Hillary Clinton. Because of the historical significance that she was even on the ballot. That the idea a woman could run for president won't be a fairy tale to my children. As I sat on the brown corduroy couch in my predictably blue state I watched state after state shock the news as it came up bright red.

Friends, history is alive right now. We are the American people and the generation experiencing this shift in paradigm today. How are we going to respond?

Susan B. Anthony's grave was covered with women's "I voted" stickers yesterday.
 I don't think Susan B. Anthony would leave the country if she was alive today.
Did she leave the country or threaten to when she was arrested for illegal voting?

Did Rosa Parks try to leave the country after she faced Jim Crow day after day?

If Martin Luther King Jr. was alive today I believe he would not name call. He would not threaten to leave our nation. If anything, I believe he would call us to something greater. Something harder. He would call us to march "shoulder to shoulder into the fray".

 Dr. King said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." 

 There is a reason Trump is elected our next president. Instead of running, name calling, and judging voters -- all hateful things -- I will strive to be a light in our nation. I will strive to show love. Because no matter who you voted for, what matters how I treat everyday people and how I choose to act as an everyday person. What matters is how everyday people interact in all of our cities and our towns. There's no "us" and "them". We are all Americans. We are all humans. I am no better than anyone else.

Writer Ann Voskamp dares us to, "live like we are bodies are terminal and our souls are eternal. " I am not going to spend the amount of time I have left on this earth contributing to hate. I will not leave the country many of our fore mothers and fathers have fought so bravely for the next generation. I will demonstrate love in action and continue to do my best to be a person of integrity and a courageous truth teller.

So I ask those of you who feel angry, shocked, and rattled today to please not make empty threats to move out of this country. Please don't post generalizations about Trump supporters. Let's follow the example of the love warriors such as Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and many others who walked the same American streets we do today. Today I choose hope. Today I choose light. Today I choose love.







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