Election Night 2016

It is election night in the United States of America tonight.  I haven't been watching the polls, but I haven't had to do so as my Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of reports from those who are.  Right now it doesn't look good for those who believe that Donald Trump is the wrong choice to represent our country on the world stage.

I am one of those people.  I have made my feelings about him clear on many previous occasions to my friends and family, so I have no need to repeat the specifics here.  I just have to say that I am sad right now. I'm sad that so many people voted for fear, for hatred, and for division.  I'm sad that so many people who had the opportunity to make a difference for others voted from a position of privilege, feeling that their vague principles about the political system and how it is weighted against third parties were worth more than the actual lives of the people that a Trump Presidency will negatively effect in a very visceral way.

But all of that said, there is one thing I am NOT. I am NOT going anywhere.  There's talk (as there always is) about moving out of the country if one person or another wins.  That isn't me.

I'm here, and here I'm going to stay until they drag me away and lock me up for being who and what I am.

I'm here to keep fighting against the hatred that divides people of different color skins.

I'm here to keep fighting against the misogyny that tries to keep women from having an equal say in the world around them, and in their own lives.

I'm here to keep fighting for those who work multiple jobs and still can't afford to feed themselves or their families, or to keep a decent roof over their heads.

I'm here to keep fighting for those who are ill or suffering and are cast aside by the medical profession and insurance industry and pharmaceutical industry because they are "unprofitable".

I'm here to fight for the flora and fauna of this world who have no voices of their own and are slowly disappearing because of man's greed.

I'm here, and I'm staying here.  I am going to be a thorn in the side of those in power. I am going to take my frustration, and my anger, and I am going to turn them into determination and stubbornness.  They will begin to wince whenever they see my return address on a letter, my name on an email, my face in the hallway, or hear my voice chanting outside their windows.

I will not let them forget that their time is fleeting, their power not as great as they would like to imagine.  My time, the time of those who fight with me, and our power, is greater than any hatred, any greed, any selfishness or misogyny, greater than any institutional racism or ableism, greater than their oppression of anyone different will ever be.

I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not alone.