For many people, the election of Donald Trump feels like a giant headache coming on. If you get a headache, you might take an aspirin to ease the pain. Or, you could meditate, exercise, or get a massage, instead. You could even reflect on how headaches may stem from an internal conflict, a denial of the self. My point is, these alternatives are meant to treat the causes of the headache, not just the symptoms.
Now that the election is over, we can lament or complain, but the question is: What can we do to treat the cause? To me, Donald Trump's election is a symptom of something much bigger than he is! I don't think just fighting his initiatives will really bring about the changes that we really want. So what can we actually do to create positive change?
The first thing that comes to mind is to reach out to people who are different from ourselves. For example, people of other races and ethnic groups, or people who voted for Mr. Trump, or perhaps those who didn't vote at all. By reach out, I mean to listen to them and find common ground in order to connect with them, rather than try to "sell" our opinions to them instead. I plan to write more about how to do this in blog posts here, in the future.
Another thing we can do is learn from others around the world. They can certainly show us some good alternatives to what we're doing presently! After all, it's easy to isolate ourselves here in the United States and forget that there are other ways to solve problems.
Rather than fly overseas to visit numerous other countries, there's an alternative: Let Michael Moore do the traveling for us! In his film, "Where to Invade Next," he visits other countries and compares how we do things to how they do them elsewhere. Rather than angry or bitter, I found his presentation very warm and optimistic, as well as humorous and ironic (Michael Moore's forte). I highly recommend it.
We might not be able to replicate exactly what they do in other places, but there are some amazing models out there to learn about.
Of course there are plenty of other films, articles, and videos, online and elsewhere, that are full of ideas for positive change and action steps. But if you don't know where to start, I recommend starting with this film, then discuss!
Now that the election is over, we can lament or complain, but the question is: What can we do to treat the cause? To me, Donald Trump's election is a symptom of something much bigger than he is! I don't think just fighting his initiatives will really bring about the changes that we really want. So what can we actually do to create positive change?
The first thing that comes to mind is to reach out to people who are different from ourselves. For example, people of other races and ethnic groups, or people who voted for Mr. Trump, or perhaps those who didn't vote at all. By reach out, I mean to listen to them and find common ground in order to connect with them, rather than try to "sell" our opinions to them instead. I plan to write more about how to do this in blog posts here, in the future.
Another thing we can do is learn from others around the world. They can certainly show us some good alternatives to what we're doing presently! After all, it's easy to isolate ourselves here in the United States and forget that there are other ways to solve problems.
Rather than fly overseas to visit numerous other countries, there's an alternative: Let Michael Moore do the traveling for us! In his film, "Where to Invade Next," he visits other countries and compares how we do things to how they do them elsewhere. Rather than angry or bitter, I found his presentation very warm and optimistic, as well as humorous and ironic (Michael Moore's forte). I highly recommend it.
We might not be able to replicate exactly what they do in other places, but there are some amazing models out there to learn about.
Of course there are plenty of other films, articles, and videos, online and elsewhere, that are full of ideas for positive change and action steps. But if you don't know where to start, I recommend starting with this film, then discuss!
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