Killing Hope

Please STOP. We all need to STOP. Just cut the foolishness and the drama and the hatred NOW. We are not just hurting ourselves and each other; we are damaging our kids. They see our anger and our ugliness, and they are afraid because we are the adults and we aren't acting like it. We're throwing insults and threatening each other and treating one another exactly opposite of how we've always told them they should treat each other.

I just saw a sophomore in tears because she is so overwhelmed with so much more than her schoolwork and basic teenage concerns. She said she's worried about the election because it's HER future, too, and it isn't only about who wins this election.

"It doesn't matter who they're voting for, I'm tired of seeing everyone fighting." THIS is the future she sees, not the wrong person getting elected but everyone at war with their neighbors, friends, and family.

Do you know what I told her? The same thing I'm going to tell you. It will all be okay, no matter who is elected. Go ahead and repeat that slowly a few times to yourselves.

It. Will. All. Be. Okay.

Some things could get worse. Or they could get better. But we will all make it through the next four years of whichever of these clowns gets elected. Eight if necessary.

So suck it up and quit scaring the kids, please.

Quit scaring yourselves while you're at it.

Stop calling one another names and saying that those voting for the candidate you oppose are committing treason or should be rounded up and incarcerated or deported or shot.

Do you hear yourselves? What would you say to your child if (s)he came home from school and said the same of a classmate with whom (s)he didn't agree? Parents need anti-bullying programs more than children do.

Maybe this is why there have been so many fights at my high school. Perhaps it's part of the reason why kids are shutting down or overwhelmed and breaking down and apathy is on the rise. This is the death of hope in the next generation, and every single one of us who does not do something to stem this tide of hatred is guilty of sticking a knife in that hope and bringing it closer to its ever-quickening demise. WE did that. Are doing it still.

But we can STOP.

We can change. We can love. We can encourage. We can curb our judgments and temper our words with kindness. We can build hope.

Or we can destroy it.

The choice is ours.