The morning after

I am tired and wrung out.  I have slept little and wept often.  I have never felt like this after an election.

I am scared.

I am scared that will family will lose our health insurance.  We currently have all of our eggs in one basket, financially speaking.  One illness, one accident will ruin us.  We have a litany of preexisting conditions and are quite accident prone.

I am scared for all my friends with skin browner than mine.  They are Americans, but this election gave others carte blanche to treat them as otherwise.

I am scared for the journalists who actually did their jobs.  Threats have been made to shut down their rights as journalists.

I am scared for the comedians who are just doing their jobs.  Humor and satire shouldn't be something you have to censor.

I am scared for every woman.  Women are threatened every day for just existing online and having an opinion.  The new leader of our country just opened the floodgates.  It's already difficult without all of this.  And now, reproductive rights have been promised to be stripped away.

I am scared for the LGBT community.  We thought love won not long ago.  Looks like it has to be secret once again.

I am scared for the economy.  The last time Republicans controlled the Presidency, House, and Senate was 1928.

I am scared.  Persuasion won out over argument.  Side show illusion replaced critical and rational thought.  I try to teach my children to be good people and take an interest in the world around them.  They just watched an ill-informed bully win the highest seat in the land.

I am going to hide under my blanket now.