This election has been particularly hard for me. Never
before have I had to consider the molding of two young human beings. I
haven’t had to consider what their next 4 years (or 8) both in and out of
school might look like, how their classroom might be affected and how their
worldview might be shaped by a president of our country. I haven’t
had to think about how to explain to them that they are growing up in a
{politically} divided house but that there are more common ground issues than
there aren’t. That two words, Democrat and Republican, carry with them
the constant connotation that one is better than the other.
But here we are. And. I. Am. Terrified.
This is a much bigger burden to carry than I ever
anticipated, especially in a time when both mainstream candidates can be
polarizing. But what I do know is that I want our kids to grow up in a
country where tolerance is talked about as a way of inclusion rather than
exclusion. Where my baby boy and baby girl can go to school and have
access to resources rather than worry about their curriculum or if the school
will maintain funding to give them the tools to excel academically. I
want both our children to experience friendships that are not underlined by
racial fears presented by a leader of this country, but racial differences that
are embraced because we live in America – the great melting pot of culture,
race and ethnicity. Most of all, I want them to know that love is a
feeling. Not a platform. That they can love their friends
regardless of what others might be saying. That, when the time
comes, they can fall in love with whomever their heart beats for and that not
only will their friends and family understand, but strangers who they may have
interactions with will be understanding as well, because they have had a leader
to base their reactions and world-views by. My greatest fear is that
instead of becoming a culture, society and country that fosters growth,
development, inclusion and respect, we are slipping into a vortex of fear and
hatred. That what we do not understand or cannot place into a “box” is
therefore wrong or evil.
And thinking about this and how it will affect our innocent
and precious kids makes me sad. Because as a parent, we can only do so
much. We can only model the type of behavior we wish our kids to
absorb. We are not immune to our kids hearing and seeing and living
through a time where hatred may win and social media may become their only
source of information. So how do we make the “right” choice?
How do we look at our next 4 years and know that they will be in Kindergarten
by the time this opportunity comes around again to make it “right”? When
they start learning about presidents and laws and the Preamble, will it be
under toned with anger that in 2016 we had a drastic change in the way our
country was looked at and talked about? It’s all bubbles and chalk on a
hot day now. But soon, their world will be filled with history
lessons. How do we write that history in a way that they can be proud of
us as parents?
