The View From Here

Well, it has been over a month since the U.S. election and what was impossible became reality. I can't even write the name of the president-elect as I'm still incredulous about the results. However it wasn't unforeseen as I recall a friend of mine from Kenya in his usual prescient way that he thought the Republican nominee may actually win the election. He implored that me (and others like me) as a U.S. American to be the vanguard of the democracy of the nation of my birth. I voted. We lost. It took a couple of weeks for me to get my bearings and to begin to apply the principles of acceptance and mindfulness to my own distress. I also took hold of the concept of Radical Acceptance  that comes from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. It means for me to truly, truly accept the reality of what's happening as awful as it is while also seeking productive change. For me, that change is resistance. Resisting the hatred of those who differ. Resisting the diminishing power...

In late March I was on the "L" in Chicago traveling from the airport to the heart of the city for a conference. As I stood near the doorway of the train, I observed the people who were sitting and standing around me. In so many ways the "L" was a microcosm of our society in the U.S. in that I was surrounded by abounding diversity particularly cultural. I saw the same thing when I took the BART in San Francisco, the subway in NYC or even the "T" in Boston. There were exchanges in different languages and the response by those of us listening in? Simple acceptance that's most likely rooted in the reality of difference. I'm guessing many just blocked out what they heard as it's probably commonplace to hear unfamiliar words. People didn't blink if someone came onto the train wearing a hijab or turban. A place like Chicago (or NYC or L.A.) embodies our nation's history (often painful and conflicted) with diversity resulting from decade...