The results of yesterday’s election were a punch to the gut for me when I woke up this morning. As a cis straight white male, I can only imagine how much worse seeing the Republicans victorious was for anybody who is trans, queer, BIPOC, and/or a non-male gender.
Actually, I don’t have to imagine it. I’m seeing how they feel in real time on social media. It’s a mixture of sadness, fear, panic, anger, disappointment, revulsion, and so much more. It’s all justified based on how the Republicans have behaved for decades and what they have said their plans are for the country now that they’re in power.
What’s worse is that we’ve been here before when Trump was first elected president in 2016. We were fortunate in some ways because Trump and the Republicans were so inept at governing, they couldn’t get anything done outside of Trump’s executive orders. As Jon Stewart said in his live Daily Show closing monologue last night, we really don’t know how things will turn out this time.
But, as Stewart also said, this is not the end.
I found myself thinking back to the book which ignited my love of reading, Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time. Specifically, I came back to these moments in the story:
Suddenly there was a great burst of light through the Darkness. The light spread out and where it touched the Darkness the Darkness disappeared. The light spread until the patch of Dark Thing had vanished, and there was only a gentle shining, and through the shining came the stars, clear and pure. Then, slowly, the shining dwindled until it, too, was gone, and there was nothing but stars and starlight. No shadows. No fear. Only the stars and the clear darkness of space, quite different from the fearful darkness of the Thing.
‘You see!’ the Medium cried, smiling happily. ‘It can be overcome! It is being overcome all the time!’
Madeline L’Engle, A Wrinkle In Time
This quote is my reminder that we can push back the darkness. It won’t be easy, but we are made of star stuff, so we have it within us to shine our light and break through.
What’s more, we don’t have to face the darkness alone.
“And we’re not alone, you know, children,” came Mrs. Whatsit, the comforter. “All through the universe, it’s being fought, all through the cosmos, and my, but it’s a grand and exciting battle. I know it’s hard for you to understand about size, how there’s very little difference in the size of the tiniest microbe and the greatest galaxy. You think about that, and maybe it won’t seem strange to you that some of our very best fighters have come right from your own planet, and it’s a little planet, dears, out on the edge of a little galaxy. You can be proud that it’s done so well.”
“Who have our fighters been? Calvin asked.
“Oh, you must know them, dear,” Mrs. Whatsit said.
Mrs. Who’s spectacles shone out at them triumphantly. “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
“Jesus!” Charles Wallace said. “Why of course, Jesus!”
“Of course!” Mrs. Whatsit said. “Go on, Charles, love. There were others. All your great artists. They’ve been lights for us to see by.”
Madeline L’Engle, A Wrinkle In Time
And, thanks to Mrs. Which, we know what we need to do.
‘Yyouu hhave ssaidd itt!’ Mrs Which’s voice rang out. ‘Itt iss Eevill. Itt iss thee Ppowers of Ddarrkknesss!
’‘But what’s going to happen?’ Meg’s voice trembled. ‘Oh, please, Mrs Which, tell us what’s going to happen!’
‘Wee wwill cconnttinnue tto ffightt!’
Something in Mrs Which’s voice made all three of the children stand straighter, throwing back their shoulders with determination, looking at the glimmer that was Mrs Which with pride and confidence.
Madeline L’Engle, A Wrinkle In Time
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