A Post-Election Exercise in Empathy

If every person in America took a few minutes to empathize with someone they fear or dismiss or dislike imagine the results.The polarizing effects of the US election process have intensified since the election last week. Some feel hopeful for the future. Others feel defeated. Some take to the streets to protest. Others get back to life as usual.Intense emotions are being expressed on every side. When we feel fearful, we tend to revert to more primitive ways of coping, including all or nothing thinking.This post-election period is an opportunity to empathize instead of polarize.What is empathy? It has two parts: 1) ability to sense the feelings of another person and 2) the ability to imagine what it might be like from another person's perspective.I recently posted a the following question on Facebook inviting others to share their thoughts and feelings about the election as an exercise to help me practice empathy. Here's a sampling of the responses to my question.That it's not about our candidate losing, it's about a man who has run his campaign on hate, who does not believe in climate change, now holding the most powerful office in the world. I fear for those he has marginalized, including women, and I fear for our planet. That just because the media says so doesn't make me one of the hatefuls, deplorables, and whatever else they want to call me just because i didn't vote for Hillary...my understanding and knowledge of the constitution lead me to my choice, and while he's not the best human being available, i know that he'll have the values of the country at heart... That I can both have concerns and be hopeful that it will be OK. That I'm heartbroken because we are officially still living in a society where a presidential candidate can boast about his own (heavily corroborated) efforts at sexual assault against women and *that* is not a deal-breaker. That I'm sad that now, in America, it's apparently okay to stereotype entire groups of people based on their vote. After all, the reason this election was so controversial was not because we had two stellar candidates competing, but because we had two awful candidates . . . That the grief being felt is not simply over our candidate "not winning". My grief is over the choices that have been made by half the people in this country about what they are allowing their children to learn and tolerate. Where are they in all of this? What do we tell them? That there are good people who voted differently than you--and that doesn't mean they aren't also heartsick. That the election gave a voice to hate, racism, sexism, fascism and so many more horrible things and now these are being normalized. I for one am deeply disturbed at the election and the outcome. Just that we all had anxiety. Some of us were fiercly, passionately trying to help save America. So what I'd want people to know is that my intent was to help and not to hurt anyone that felt differently. That both candidates were very mixed bags . . . that it wasn't an easy decision, it was heart wrenching. A lot of my friends voted for Trump. I don't think my friends or family are racists, or bigots, or homophobic, etc. They saw the issues that matter to them and voted based on that. I just wish that they could see why as an LGBTQ+ citizen I'm afraid, and stop telling me that I have no reason to be. More than anything: that good people with good motivations can and do have diametrically different views on politics. It does not mean that one is wrong and another is right, only that we see solutions differently. AND: if we are not willing to sit down and with patience on BOTH sides, and talk about why we each voted the way we did and have a willingness to believe each other in those reasons, it will always be this divided and angry.I know the above comments don't represent all responses to the election results, so I invite you to add your answer to the question, "What do you wish people understood about your response to the election?"