I know that this is a blog that people read to laugh for a few minutes, so a post like this is rather off-brand for us. But America is rather off-brand right now. I imagine some people could use a bit of reassurance.
I live in New York City and I went to one of the protests that happened today, and it was the first time all day that I stopped feeling alone. There are many, many people who feel the way I do – and I would presume many of our readers do – about what has happened to our country. And people are angry.
There are almost certainly much better pictures of this or other protests than the ones that I took, but I wanted to share what I was able to see, and hopefully reassure someone that you are not alone right now.
Trump got into office by stirring up anger and fear. This is what he deals in and this is all he knows. But now it’s spreading. What I saw today was that someday – maybe not tomorrow, maybe not four years from now, but someday – anger and fear are coming right back for him.
There’s a lot that could be said and will be said about unity and coming together. It would be delightful – human, even – if our next president understood what those ideas meant. But until then, there are still many people to wait with and to fight alongside.
As this is ordinarily a blog about the arts and how they reach us (in a sense), I’d like to end this thought with an A Softer World comic that feels particularly relevant right now.
My heart goes out to you all.
-Matthew