The deer outside my window that made me feel better about the election.
When the strongest people stand, they do not stand in opposition. They stand in congruence with larger truths. They stand to demonstrate the possibility of transcendence within a given situation. This is one of the profound truths revealed by Gandhi.
I felt lost the morning after the election. I would say I even felt scared. This was not the country I thought I lived in. I wanted to jump ship. I was wondering around my house aimlessly, close to wringing my hands. I came through the doorway to my bedroom and was suddenly face-to-face with big deer right outside my window. He looked up from eating and we both startled. There was something amazingly contradictory about this spooked deer – absolutely silent, absolutely still and yet those hind legs were bulging with strength and power, ready to leap and bound in an instant. We continued to stare motionlessly at each other for a few moments. Then he simply put his head down and started eating again – he assessed the potential threat and then returned to matters at hand.
I sat there for quite a while. For the deer, the world was exactly the same as it was before Election Day. Nothing had changed. Fall was ending; the winter dearth was coming, but his food source would reappear in the spring. In short, the work of being a deer was still the work of being a deer. I felt a rush of relief fill my body. Things were going to be okay. The world was the same as it always was. Human beings have darker reactions to difficult times and they have lighter ones. This was part of the ebb and flow of human consciousness.
I have dedicated my life to helping myself and other people heal. This is the work I do. I will not leap away like a spooked deer because of what has happened. I will not hold distain either. This is the country I live in and these are my seasons. I need to set back to work.
As a healer, if I am really honest, this election shows me that the American psyche is deeply injured. I mean more than the amazing fact that we are seemingly divided straight down the middle between two political parties. We (and I mean ‘we’) ultimately voted for an underlying vision of fear, blame, aggression, and a nostalgic view of past American greatness. This is not who we are or who we want to be. But it means that we are scared. There is so much change in this global economy. There is so much change in our social institutions. And there is an ever-widening gap between the “Haves” and the “Have Nots.” Many of us want a simple solution and go back to the way things were. Of course, this is not possible.
On top of that, no one being honest can deny that our two main political parties are deeply flawed, even corrupt. The result is that we get leaders that don’t lead, but rather are obsessed with winning and maintaining power. There is ample reason to be cynical about our current political system. I understand the impulse to vote for a darker, more reactionary vision for moving forward. I’m too am disgusted and feel disempowered.
So I stand but not in opposition. I do not stand in opposition to those friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens that voted for Trump. In fact, I have to share in the underlying suffering that led them to make such a choice. If I do, then the collective healing can begin. If there is one thing I know about healing, it’s that healing does not occur through fear and blaming. If we fall to this path, we will lose not just the country we love but also our humanity too. I refuse to do that. So I step toward my neighbor and not away.
It’s time to get serious. Our political leaders will duke it out the way their inbreeded sickness demands. But in day-to-day life, we need to get serious about some basic things: love, laughter, compassion, and community. We need to do this across what divides us and on the grounds of our daily lives. We cannot wait for leadership in Washington D.C. We need to share and live the humanity that we all have within us. This is the larger truth for which we stand. It transcends politics. We must not lose our country to a collective psychic injury. We must find each other and our humanity in the touches of everyday life.
All this I learned from a deer returning to his work at hand.