Pointing the Finger

Hey Party People,

 

Today, November 7, 2020, Joe Biden was just elected as the 46^th President of the United States. Democracy came through during a pandemic! The added complications and challenges that shadowed this election due to the pandemic were nothing compared to the unwavering divide of our world. 

It’s scary to think how divided the US is, what’s even scarier is to realize it's not just the U.S., it's everywhere. Trump created a space for so many people to share their narcissistic and racist beliefs. He made it ok, made it acceptable behaviour, to treat others as lesser. What makes anyone else lesser than you, what makes you better than them? Just because someone might look different, maybe think different, or speak differently why is that bad? Sure it might make you uncomfortable because you don’t understand but WHY do we retreat out of fear, or lash out with anger when something challenges our norm? Where does this behaviour stem from? I truly believe that our society fails to teach us to take control of our own thoughts and actions, and instead teaches us to pass the blame and point the finger. We blame others when things don’t go our way instead of asking what could I have done differently?

When things don’t go our way of course it makes us upset. We are allowed to have preferences and our own beliefs, identities, or thoughts. Whether you wanted Biden to win or Trump to win, I do not judge but what I want to know is why you chose one candidate over the other? For some of you here in Canada, maybe you didn’t even watch or care, but when one of the most influential countries, that is also our closest neighbour, largest trading partner, and basically our security net, is divided amoung two drastically different ideologies, we need to care. This election affects us too and affects the entire world.

I have many feelings of both hope and disappointment at this entire process. Politics in general is a hard landscape for me to navigate, with side deals, and manipulative relationships that are built on “what can you do for me mentalities”, and egos that can barely fit through the front door. It's just not my world. BUT it’s a world that influences my life, and yours. So I am disappointed in what this election has exposed. It’s made clear a significant divide in how people think and see others, a divide in what people believe really matters. Power over people. Money over happiness. Status over connection. Its exposed people's beliefs in new ways as they chose a side, or refused to choose a side. But I feel hope in watching the election south of our border seeing how many people were using their platforms to encourage people to vote, over 100 million mail-in ballots were cast, and people came out to have their voices heard. Democracy has been taken for granted for so long. I myself have not felt empowered to participate in elections because I didn’t think it really mattered or impacted me. But it does. And I’ve learned that more and more over time, but even more so by watching this election. Your voice matters.

Whether you are happy, pissed off, or unaffected by this election you can’t ignore what has been exposed. I see hope in humanity, but also fear how so many would rather point the finger and put others down instead of listening even for a second, even for a minute to consider the other side. You might push back and say well Sara are you listening to the other side? Perhaps not as much as I should, but I’ve made small changes to ensure I’m exposed to differing or lived experiences. I broke out of my echo chamber (a social circle of media, people, and beliefs that reinforce what I already believe), to ensure I wasn’t living in my own void. For example, I follow particular hashtags on Instagram such as #Conservative to see what others say and share. And most of what comes through my feed from this hashtag were posts about Trump and this election.

It's important to allow other viewpoints and opinions in. In doing so they might actually reinforce what we already believe, or they may cause us to question it. Either way, we can gain clarity on what our beliefs are and begin to build a stronger understanding of our self. But we can’t do that without hearing both sides, more sides, more thoughts, and opinions. So just try and open up, even just a little.

We can’t continue to point the finger or blame others for our hardship or for our disappointments. We can’t control how others think, act, or believe, but we can control how we conduct ourselves. So make sure you stand strong in who you are, decide who you want to be, and understand why you believe what you do. I’m not asking you to post an Instagram monologue about your thoughts or to have a political conversation at your next family dinner. What I’m asking of you is to decide on who you want to be, for you, and understand why. Push past what others put on you, tell you and what you’ve grown up with, and decide what feels right to you. It’s time we step into better alignment with ourselves and begin to grow our own beliefs and not just follow what others tell us.

What a time to be alive party people, time for your party JAM. Let's get moving.  

          YouTube >> Lips are Moving – Meghan Trainor   

          Spotify >>  Lips are Moving – Meghan Trainor

Thank-you for spending your time with me. I hope you explore who you are with intense curiosity and love all you are, because there is only one you. Be you in FULL. 

-S

P.S. Are you on the gram? Add me up and become one of my Party People! @theOnlySaraStepa