That's a Heavy Burden to Carry...

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?

That’s a heavy burden to carry.  So heavy.