Relection after the Election

Disbelief, sadness, escape and reflection.

Those are my reaction since Donald Trump winning the 2016 presidential election on November 8th.

When the network TVs called Florida for Donald Trump, who had already won most of the mid-western states, I turned off the TV and went to bed. It was hard to fall asleep. The victory of Hillary Clinton had been imminent right before the election day as predicted by various national polls. My own vote for Hillary was full of confidence.

The wave of sadness flushed in the next morning on Wednesday. The result was final. The social media around me were filled with raw emotions. I had to go to work.

Work was the best way to escape. Our colleagues mostly leaned towards republican as others who work in the medical device industry. I felt relieved and respected during the morning staff meeting when everyone clearly felt the gravity of loss on my face and several others. In the next few days, I finished everything on my to-do list, talked to family and friends, and played table tennis like every other week, trying to escape from the sense of loss.

Family and friends are much more important than politics.

It is time to reflect on what I saw and what I missed in this election.

My voting came from my belief in collaboration over competition. I saw that with Hillary a continuation of policies to help those in needs, to collaborate to achieve peace and to slow down climate change. In contrast, I saw Donald Trump a bully who put himself above everyone else, and who could ignore anything to advance his own agenda.

But I must have also ignored much what 60,072,551 American have voted for Donald Trump.

Americans wanted a change agent during recent elections. The choices of Bush over Gore in 2000, Obama over McCain in 2008, and now Trump over Clinton in 2016 all found someone brought fresh perspectives and agenda for change. The directions for change were not the same in each election, but the idea of we can do better was the same motivation in the past, was probably the same for 2016.

There were also 60,467,601 American have voted for Hillary Clinton. This election result could not reflect what is right or wrong. Like a lyric from one of my favorite song writers “what you say right now is just your courage at this moment”, this election reflected the current sentiment of the country.

Nobody should leave America, because this is our country.

Our beautiful democracy has protected us from chaos or wars that would have occurred in many other places after a divisive election like this one. I want to give change a chance. The republican party has an amazing chance to get something done in the next few years. It would be a big beautiful thing if politicians spend more time with their constituents than with lobbyists and donors.

I don’t think Donald Trump will be able to mess up too badly.  I believe there are more Americans will stand up to bigotry towards women and prejudice against minorities. The next election cycle is in two years.

We will look back this election in 2034 and remember the Supermoon this weekend. The moon is the closest full moon to Earth since 1948. I will go out into the dark night and enjoy the brightness of being.