Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night

    I  am stunned, sickened, appalled, disgusted, and most of all terrified.  I sit and ask myself why  has this happened. Why has a man who has openly demeaned women, a man who threatens  and bullies, a man who would take away freedom of speech just because he doesn't like what people really feel about him elected president?  The questions are rolling in my mind. How? Why? For gods-sake why? 

     These unanswerable, scalding questions lead to more. How are citizens of this nation fooled? How are so many people on board with electing a megalomaniac, misogynist, bigot? Why are people so upset that they would overlook all of his hateful rhetoric? I have to tell myself that people voted out of desperate need of some kind of change, because if I think everyone voted because their views are in line with this tyrant I cannot go on. 

Wild Men Who Caught and Sang the Sun in Flight, and Learn, Too Late, They Grieved it on its Way. Do not go gentle into that good night.

     Today I would like to go home and crawl back in to bed and make it all go away. But I know in my heart of hearts, as Dr. Martin Luther King said in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance, "Right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant." I also know that burying one's head in the sand only leads to more people being marginalized. 
     Now is the time to stand up and to stand together. It is the time to refuse to be bullied and to refuse to let those around us be bullied. We need to use our fear and disgust for good in the face of hate. 
     This is my war cry, though it be peaceful: I am with you fellow women, I am with you people of color, I am with you LGBTQ/SOGI community, I am with you people of Muslim faith--people of ALL faiths and beliefs--I am  with you as your friend, as your ally, and as your protector. I will not stand idly by and passively watch our country be taken back to what some consider great and the rest of us know is oppressive.  
     I'm going to lick my liberal wounds and come back fighting. Let's keep love and the light alive.
 Not me. Us. 
 Rage, Rage against the dying of the light. Do not go gentle into that good night.