29 Comments
User's avatar
Melina Rudman's avatar

Thank you Maria. This is from my own post this morning:

We are in a place of revelation. Scales have fallen from our eyes. We

see ourselves and one another for who we are. We can no longer pretend

to goodness or greatness.

May we be grateful for this terrible clarity.

Expand full comment
Lisa Weikel's avatar

Love this, Melina.

Expand full comment
Maria Rodale's avatar

Exactly! Thanks!

Expand full comment
Val Minett's avatar

The truth is ugly. There is no more pretending that this enemy within is not known to his cult. They know, we know.

Expand full comment
Vinnie Tripodi's avatar

I was a non-stop outrage machine from 2016-2020, triggered daily by every unkind, self serving decision made and the ignorance of the masses. No more. Will roll with it and protect my less than privileged family and friends the best I can. I am privileged as a white older male with an older male child to be able to roll with it. Not lost on me. I'll do what i can but if I allow myself to engage w every decision and troll I'll be in a looney bin.

Expand full comment
Maria Rodale's avatar

Yeah, engaging with rage just makes the flames higher. ❤️

Expand full comment
Lisa Weikel's avatar

And wears you out so you don't have the energy to engage in what feeds you - and all of us. Thank you for caring so much.

Expand full comment
Jill Engvaldsen's avatar

I am so here for this! I really struggled with the first round of Trump and have come around since then to be a lot more curious and be a little hero. Not participating in the hatred directed at either side, diffusing tension where I can. I have my garden, my nature activities (biking, hiking, and wandering). I am here to bring joy and incite the potential for us to reach our greatest potential, never mind who’s ‘in charge” …. Xxxooo much love every one

Expand full comment
Tracy Herz's avatar

I knew this was who we are before the election.

West Virginia showed me that the country I thought I lived in actually only exists primarily in Manhattan and Santa Barbara and parts of Connecticut.

Expand full comment
Maria Rodale's avatar

And my house in Pennsylvania.

Expand full comment
Tracy Herz's avatar

And mine!

Expand full comment
Jeanne Kay Rucker Collins's avatar

I’m still trying desperately to come to grips with what happened Tuesday. I feel so betrayed by my fellow women. I’m immersing myself in seeding a milkweed and wildflower 🌸🌺🌼 garden since I live on the monarch butterfly migration route. At least they will be well fed this year. For myself (and the birds), the row closest to the garden wall will be seeded with all my favorite varieties of sunflowers. 🌻 At 72 years old with a chronic disease who knows how much longer I’ll have. At least if I have to endure so much ugliness in politics, I will still have my small garden of beauty and love to enjoy.

Expand full comment
Maria Rodale's avatar

Blessings to you. 🦋

Expand full comment
RobertaL's avatar

In the face of fear, I and many people I love, are standing in the reality that we are still the people we were on Monday: kind, loving, smart, generous, dedicated to those things-like planting and tending a garden, helping others- we love and doing those things with those we love. None of that has changed. The future is unknown for sure. It can be very scary. But we will not let fear rule the day. Being close to those you love is always soothing. Now it is the balm we need more than ever.

Expand full comment
Lisa Weikel's avatar

As long as we have each other...that's where our strength lies.

Expand full comment
Maria Rodale's avatar

Truth!

Expand full comment
Jackson Katz's avatar

Brava! Great piece. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Clara Coleman's avatar

I always admire your writing, Maria, and how you use it as a vehicle to speak truth to power - please keep on speaking up. Your voice is needed! After the election, I came across a beautiful video on social media by Baratunde Thurston where he shared what Indigenous Mohawk elder Katsi Cook said, “Embrace for impact” meaning things are going to get very hard for people (and other species) the least equipped to handle it. So, let’s be for each other. In love and solidarity. Let's keep creating and living and loving.

Expand full comment
Maria Rodale's avatar

Thanks!

Expand full comment
Rodger Heckman's avatar

I agree that It is the grass roots people doing the little things that will create change. It is a slow process but the quality of change is what counts.

Ps the age of Aquatius begins when Scorpio ends this year and Sagitarius begins. No longer at the dawning of the age, we are about to enter it. The peace and love over the next 200+ years will come about through these grass roots efforts.

Expand full comment
Susie Middleton's avatar

This helps!

Expand full comment
Julie Hirt's avatar

I couldn’t agree more. This is indeed who we are and until we reckon with it, we are doomed to repeat it. I hope this time we actually realize who we are, what we’ve done and make amends to those we’ve hurt (speaking as a white woman) so we can heal. I hope.

Expand full comment
Maria Rodale's avatar

The tears of black women and men that I am seeing is heartbreaking. They want to know why they are so hated by so many.

Expand full comment
Michael Adsit's avatar

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak.” Sophie Scholl 1943, White Rose

Expand full comment
Abeja C.'s avatar

i wonder if the black woman you saw voting for tr*mp was afro-latina or mixed, and not culturally african-american.

i'm sure you're already aware that there is an assumption among us white people that all brown to dark-brown people are black. but, this absolutely does ignore the fact that there exist afro-mexicans, afro-cubans, afro-dominicans, afro-latinidads, hispanic, black-presenting PRs, etc, who absolutely, positively do not consider themselves black. they consider themselves solely nationals, and/or "latina/o," and/or indigenous, etc. and, often, they absolutely **do** align themselves with conservative whites. this... denial of sub-saharan descendance is often an effort to maintain higher social status and defend against in-group racism. anything to be white or as white-adjacent as possible. but, i digress.

Expand full comment
Maria Rodale's avatar

She did not seem black. She was something else, but I didn't ask, obviously! The great news is that my very small voting community is quite diverse. In fact, Tim Walz came to a Dominican restaurant last week, which is a mile from my house. I had a nice conversation with a black man in a wheelchair while we watched the motorcade go by. He did vote for Harris (early).

Expand full comment
Katie Stokes's avatar

This rings so true, deeply and painfully for those of us here and likemindeds. Alas, the voting majority and some who chose to not vote cling fiercely to some version of this fantasy. For those with enough privilege, the fantasy is real enough. For those aspiring to the privilege, the aspiration is enough, apparently. Meanwhile, read Technofeudalism by Yanis Varoufakis for insights into how the world has changed...the one we think we have the keys to with our smartphones.

Expand full comment
Scott Ettinger's avatar

Thanks Maria! We need to learn from this and continue to fight tyranny. We need to make sure does what he said he will do - Make America great! When he falters we need to be ready to fight and find a new way forward.

Expand full comment