My daughter wept and my heart broke.
It was the Wednesday
morning. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her cry; nor was it the first time I
was blessed with having to comfort her. She was wrapped up in my arms, her face
buried in my chest and her arms were wrapped tightly around me. My arms were
wrapped around her shoulders and one of my hands was gently stroking her hair.
I tried to whisper calming words into her ear. She made no acknowledgment of my
words, instead she just kept mumbling the word “why” repeatedly.
After a few
minutes, she regained some composure and pulled away. Once again she asked “Why”?
I looked at
her and responded “Goose, a person’s vote is their vote. Just like their
religion. What you believe in is strictly up to you. How you vote, why you vote
and who you vote for is strictly a personal choice. A choice that no one has
the right to discredit you for or debase you for. I’m sure there are plenty of
reasons why people voted the way they did and it is their right to do so. You,
me or for that matter, have no say in who or what they vote for.”
“But…”
“No buts
Goose. Like it or not, we have to live what has been decided. You may not like
it, I may not like it and many others may not like it but it is something that
we have to live with.”
“I think we
should leave.”
“Moving to
another country will only create more problems in the future. What we have to
do now is live with the situation and try to come out better in the end.
Fleeing from a problem, real or perceived does not solve the problem.”
“But… how
could they?”
“I can’t
answer that. I don’t need to answer that. No one can. We just have to keep
moving forward. America has survived forty-four presidents and it will survive
a forty-fifth. No matter how good or bad that president may be.”
“Did you
vote for him?”
“You know I
didn’t.”
“Did you
vote for her?”
“You know I
didn’t.”
“But…”
“No buts, I
voted for a third party candidate. Like I said I would. I voted my conscious. I
didn’t base it on anything but the simple fact that I wanted a better world for
you. For you to have more options in the future. I’ve more days behind me than
I do ahead of me. And, maybe, just maybe, when you go to the polls for your
first Presidential election in four years, you will have more choices, or maybe
your children will. That is why I voted the way I did. Plain and simple. I’m
looking for our country to grow, change and become better, I don’t believe that
either of the two primary candidates could do that. So I voted for the
strongest third candidate.”
“I just don’t
understand how America could do this.”
“America
didn’t do this, the people did. America is more than just people. America is an
idea, and no matter how skewed some of the people are in America, America will
always find a way to survive. So you need to stop asking why people voted the
way they did and know that America will be just fine.”
“I hope so.”
“It will
be.”
“Have you
ever been upset about an election?”
“Can’t
rightly recall. The last vote for President I cast and that President won was
Ronald Reagan. I have a terrible voting record. Most of the people I vote for
never win. They just fall off into obscurity.”
“Doesn’t
that hurt you?”
“Nope.”
“It hurts
me.”
“The pain
will lessen. You’ll be okay. Besides, when you are older and people ask you if
you ever voted for the Great Pumpkin, you can honestly say no.”
She
laughed. Not heartily, not enthusiastically, it was just a small chuckle
really. The worry, anger and disappointment vanished from her face for just a
moment. Then she looked me in the eyes and broke down again.
I reached
out to her, pulled her into my already tear stained shirt and tried to comfort
her again.
My daughter
wept and my heart broke.
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