It’s not the end of the world. It is the beginning of an absurd, brutal and destructive one.
If you had told 13-year-old August that Donald Trump would be a presidential candidate while 21 year old August was finishing their undergraduate career, applying to graduate school and living as an out queer person – I would have laughed in your face.
Now, after mourning the election, we once again feel a familiar sense of fear and uncertainty. This kind of personal and political turmoil, genuine turmoil, is one people of all belief systems need to face.
From the search “best countries to move to” peaking post-election, family members voting for a convicted felon, LGBTQIA+ people trying to gauge whether to leave the country and families of immigrants voting for a man who has repeatedly been discriminatory and violent towards immigrants, the vote is in. People have pressed the red button which says “DO NOT PUSH.”
There is a message toward trans people that is supported, especially echoed in The 19th News, that reverts back to the “eradication of transgenderism” spoken about by Michael Knowles during the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
The idea of grief not being linear may be common knowledge, but there is an added level of depth to this saying when talking about an event which will unpredictably impact a community of people. If you find all of the complex, heavy and intense emotions of the election coming back up again on January 20th, you are not the only one. Anticipatory grief can feel like the worst kind.
According to the Mental Health Match, grief often happens when you least expect it.
Recently, Trump’s “shock and awe” approach to executive orders has re-entered the professional zeitgeist, although this has been his tactic since 2017. After Tom Human, former head of ICE and the next ‘border czar,’ according to Trump, was quoted foreshadowing his approach to policy, as NPR reports.
Policies that attack and remove safety and security from people within the United States should not be justified or agreed upon. However, this will be the political reality of what will follow in the next four years.
For those who “voted for the economy:” in another election this may be excusable. However, if you do not feel weird when January 6th passes every year, have any women in your life you truly care for or love, have a friend or relative on Medicaid – congratulations. You have officially compartmentalized to the detriment of other people, including yourself.
We, not only as students but as several communities, are still grieving the election results.
Students should not be expected to function at a “base” or “expected” level in these first few weeks. Regardless of ideology, Inauguration Day and the days that follow will be an adjustment for everyone.
Everyone is going to cope with the results of the Inauguration differently. The intensity and timeline of grief can suddenly change even by a date, photograph or song. I want to remind everyone that resources are available to you.
The Student Health Center and the University Counseling Center offer mental and physical health oriented events, counseling sessions and outreach referrals to local health networks.
Please be there for your friends, family and neighbors in the upcoming weeks. We may all be feeling a spectrum of emotions during the reckoning.
