Patriots Don't Have to Fly a Flag

November 3rd was Election Day in the United States.

Many votes have not yet been counted. There are many elements of the election for everyone to feel some disappointment. But the issue isn't about what has already happened and which expectations have gone unmet. The issue is what do we do now and tomorrow.

The spiritually guided Thanissara Mary Weinberg offered the following thoughts we can consider.

"So it wasn't the blue wave... It's clear that the attack on the USPS, and its failure to deliver 1/4 of absentee ballots in key areas, (alongside other areas), in tandem with GOP legislation to stop mail-in ballots being counted before election day, is a deliberate strategy so Trump could call victory on election night, bind up the process with lawsuits, and take it all to the Supreme Court.

"But that's his/ GOP usual malarkey and bs. The votes will and must be counted, including those in Atlanta. Looks then, like Biden will win, perhaps squeak through, maybe by a good margin as the Dem votes are in fact counted.

"In spite of the disappointment, this will be the win we need to at least keep some semblance of democracy and to fight another day for improving its fairness and justice for all. This is not a win to sniff at.

"The alternative, a sharp descent into theocratic fascism, would be deadly beyond even our wildest apocalyptic nightmares. That we manage to pull out of that trajectory is actually, however slight, a big victory indeed.

"But, what is revealed, if not fully cognized before, is the big stone around the neck of the US, the impact of which shouldn't surprise us. The US is a 225-year colonial project founded in genocide, slavery over 10 - 12 generations, white supremacy, and patriarchal misogyny.

"That this toxic, viral cancer continues to live and thrive deep in the structures of this society, and as seen, is brutally enforced by the majority of police shows Trump is not an aberration, but an inevitability.

"Patriarchy, racism, class/wealth privilege, is not going to die quietly, willingly, or easily. It would rather take the whole planet down with it than give over.

"So, we have our work cut out. We may squeak through now, but let's not ever get this close to the wire again. Let this moment radicalize us as peace warriors for Earth, justice, truth, beauty, as we continue the work to birth an evolving world into its full potential."

These thoughtful words put a frame around everything this Nation has demonstrated to itself, and the world. We have a choice: let this define us; or redefine it. I believe we can use the dark to bring more light.

Let's begin the redefinition.