Activism Now!

“It’s this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see …”

These Queen lyrics have been running through my mind ever since the Nov. 8 election and Donald Trump’s victory.

The toughest part about an American today is deciding exactly how to feel about everything that has happened. I am disturbed what Trump has said and the civil liberties that may be at risk with his presidency. But I am also hopeful that his leadership can be the change that so many people voted for in this election. At the same time, the United States took upon itself to be the harbinger of nuclear weapons, so our future with Russia may look like the opposite of the Cold War.

But this is somehow not the end of all things. The sun rose several times to find ourselves still alive, with technology still running and the stock market climbing at a healthy rate. It seems there is a silver lining for President-elect Trump winning this season’s election, something financial investors and nearly half the United States population is hoping for: change, a breakaway from the status quo. The turnaround that economists call “inflation.” Where we get out of our national debt and work to create jobs and opportunities at the cost of some precious liberties.

In this time of contemplation, I feel torn by the optimistic, “Let’s look at the bright side” and the “I can’t believe this is happening. What do we do now?”. How can the top advisors consider creating a registry for Muslims in the United States just like Jews had to be registered under German law? Yet, we can look to become optimistic that our interests such as our economy could and is showing signs of strengthening. Dampening relations with Japan and South Korea because they do not uphold their end of the defense budget agreement is ludicrous.

But why look at the downside when we can be looking forward to what CAN happen in the next four years. Midterm elections might shift the way politics is viewed and run. National unemployment MAY fall below 4% and increase job opportunities with infrastructure being rebuilt. More money may flow into our economy directly through taxpayers.

We must all stay strong and fight for our rights of our freedoms. As individuals, we’re hoping that we benefit from an outcome that has affected us all, here in the United States and across the world. As a society, we are all searching for our identity as Americans. We cannot escape this, we shouldn’t run away from this problem we’ve created. We should face this and fight for our beliefs and what we think is right and contribute our thoughts and emotions through activism and becoming an active participant today.

Hold your heads up high and don’t hide from the problems we face today, tomorrow or the years to come. Since Y2K, since 9/11, since the housing collapse and concurrent recession, we have never ran away from our problems to only face new ones. This is no different. But do not confuse those events with the ones in front of us. We have the will to take action. We have the opportunity to create a better, more meaningful life for ourselves and for each other.

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Colleen Hanabusa was elected congresswoman for Hawaii and Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz are Hawaii’s Senators