Blog
Now What?
Posted on November 9, 2016
I’m writing this in the early hours of Wednesday morning, watching the final pieces of this election fall into place. At no other moment in my life have I felt so uncertain about the future of our country and the world. I was planning for this post to talk about taking advantage of the opportunities that would open over the next four years, and strategies for rapid integration of the trauma informed paradigm.
Instead, my focus shifts to wondering what will happen to all the gains made over recent years. What will happen to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid Expansion? How will HIV funding be impacted at a time when we seem to be winning critical battles against this evil virus that has destroyed so many lives and communities? What happens to all the fragile progress we were making on criminal justice reform, housing, and building mental health and substance abuse infrastructures?
We might have voted yesterday as “white educated men,” “Latinas,” “suburban women,” “black millennials,” “evangelical Christians,” and yet today we wake up as Americans. I hope that this still means something, and that we have not boxed ourselves in so much that we have lost our capacity for compassion and empathy for those whose perceived label might be different from our own. This is a fleeting hope tonight, but a hope nevertheless.
In this new reality, we stand in a familiar position. Voices in a wilderness, finding strength in our passion and sense of justice. Being a lone voice in the dark is lonely, frustrating, and often futile. But we are not alone.
In every community, there are teachers, social workers, medical professionals, people of faith, and compassionate citizens. I have come to see that our greatest weakness and barrier to change is our isolation. Trying to accomplish so much with limited resources, we find little time or energy to reach beyond our natural silos.
Unless this is all a bad dream, those with liberal, compassionate views on health care, criminal justice, social services, LGBTQ rights, and poverty will be the minority in both the House and Senate. In this reality, we can’t afford to operate in silos and in isolation. Throughout the history of our country, great change starts at the local level. It is here where we must organize, and work hard to advocate for those who are at risk to feel the greatest impact of this political reality.
If we are defeated by what happened on Tuesday, our clients and ultimately our communities lose. If we withdraw, we allow injustice to take hold, and we lose the ground we gained due to our hard work, the courage of our clients, and all those heroes in our fields who have laid the path for our success. There will be opportunities mixed in with the hardships, and we must have the energy to organize and take advantage of the doors that open – and knock down some doors that might attempt to be shut.
Physics teaches us that every action has an opposite and equal reaction. We might need to fight to survive for a few years, but things will swing back, and likely swing back in a powerful way. Our goal should be to minimize the negative and position ourselves in the best way possible for the inevitable correction.
We know what is at stake. Policies can save or destroy lives. It is our time to rise and find a collective voice with our partners in compassion. Let’s come together, start to strengthen our partnerships, and build new ones. I often say at my trainings that we need a revolution in thought, knowledge, and empathy, and if I’m going into battle, I would want no other army than those hearing (or reading) these words.
I work at Cascade AIDS Project and I am terrified for the future of my clients and our lives in general. My only solstice today is the love and support of my coworkers. We will take care of each other.
It is a time to come together. We are lucky to work with people so dedicated to social justice.
I work at Cascade AIDS Project and I am terrified for the future of my clients and our lives in general. My only solstice today is the love and support of my coworkers. We will take care of each other.
It is a time to come together. We are lucky to work with people so dedicated to social justice.
My coworkers and I are in fear of our clients future let alone the future of our job. I have ponder on these results all day at work to only find myself worried, worried that I will not survive in an economical change. Fearful of being African American and with a child that does not know anything of what is going on. Fearful for his future more than my own. I just have to continue to have faith in this decision and remain positive during this time. I feel as 2016 has been a stressful year and I am just ready to continue to move forward and progress no matter the hardship to come.
Thank you Matt for this reading. We will remain strong!
Sade, my heart hurts. Please know that you are not alone.
My coworkers and I are in fear of our clients future let alone the future of our job. I have ponder on these results all day at work to only find myself worried, worried that I will not survive in an economical change. Fearful of being African American and with a child that does not know anything of what is going on. Fearful for his future more than my own. I just have to continue to have faith in this decision and remain positive during this time. I feel as 2016 has been a stressful year and I am just ready to continue to move forward and progress no matter the hardship to come.
Thank you Matt for this reading. We will remain strong!
Sade, my heart hurts. Please know that you are not alone.
Wow…this post gave me hope as my co-workers and I have been in despair all day. Thanks for writing it. It is hard now to recognize that, as you wrote, things will eventually swing back the other way, and possibly even more strongly towards social justice and that we cannot disengage and isolate ourselves.
Wow…this post gave me hope as my co-workers and I have been in despair all day. Thanks for writing it. It is hard now to recognize that, as you wrote, things will eventually swing back the other way, and possibly even more strongly towards social justice and that we cannot disengage and isolate ourselves.
Tina, thanks. My hope comes from meeting so many great people that I know will fight with everything they have for social justice.
I’ve been around long enough to have seen the pendulum swing more than once, and you’re right, it will swing back. So, although I’m angry and frustrated, I’m not terribly surprised. What I truly am, though, is hurt, on a deeply personal level, by the actions and reactions throughout this campaign of people I thought I knew.
Suddenly, bigotry is not only acceptable, it’s laudable. Misogyny is just the name of the game. Immigrants, Muslims, people of color – all losers and we need to get rid of them. And this is all coming from family and people I thought were smarter than that.
It will take a little while to process this and begin to heal, I think.
It is a sad moment and healing so far off. Seems like each day we continue to get more dumped on us.
I’ve been around long enough to have seen the pendulum swing more than once, and you’re right, it will swing back. So, although I’m angry and frustrated, I’m not terribly surprised. What I truly am, though, is hurt, on a deeply personal level, by the actions and reactions throughout this campaign of people I thought I knew.
Suddenly, bigotry is not only acceptable, it’s laudable. Misogyny is just the name of the game. Immigrants, Muslims, people of color – all losers and we need to get rid of them. And this is all coming from family and people I thought were smarter than that.
It will take a little while to process this and begin to heal, I think.
It is a sad moment and healing so far off. Seems like each day we continue to get more dumped on us.
I cried and cried all night, and again when I arrived at work. I am fearful about my own situation, but more fearful for my friends and family of color and for my LGBTQ friends. As a pre-teen during the Reagan years, I hung over the back of the sofa, looking out our front window for mushroom clouds. As a high school graduate I worried my friends would be drafted to fight in Iraq under Bush. Scary as this is, more than half the country voted for progress, and I hope this is an opportunity to unite. Thank you for this thoughtful post. I’m a lot more inspired and a little less worried. 🙂
Thanks Melanie…as a fellow child of the 80’s I know that feeling all too well.
Hi Matt,
Thoughtful response. I belive we are about to experience a very big train wreck with this new administration. We truly are in uncharted waters. My gut instinct, it’s not going to end well, and I’m an optimist. The positive in all this, the majority of the popular vote once again had the voice of reason.
Sincerely,
Casey L
And we have to remember it: “the majority of the popular vote once again had the voice of reason.”
Hi Matt,
Thoughtful response. I belive we are about to experience a very big train wreck with this new administration. We truly are in uncharted waters. My gut instinct, it’s not going to end well, and I’m an optimist. The positive in all this, the majority of the popular vote once again had the voice of reason.
Sincerely,
Casey L
And we have to remember it: “the majority of the popular vote once again had the voice of reason.”
Matt, trauma in this situation is very real. I have not experienced a similar feeling since I was in the military and a nearby base was bombed. Truly trauma inducing. 9/11 brought that PTSD to the surface and now this. Your words do help.
Thanks my friend. So many triggers right now. At least we are not walking through the minefields alone.