Time To Do More: Reactions to Election 2024

I write this on the morning after.

My daughter has texted and phoned about her sadness. She can’t stop crying.

My son has said, “Don’t try to console. I’m not ready to try to see the bright side. I just want to tune out for a time.”

I’ve heard from others who just want to be with their pets or listen to soothing music—mournful music.

Thank God. God gives a season for tears, for tuning out, for soothing music. But also a season to recoup, plan, and act.

A hero of our times, Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, and man who genuinely cares about the tragedy of inequality in our world, says its urgent that we now mobilize to protect the ones most in danger from our newly elected government: the undocumented and their families, the women with difficult and dangerous pregnancies, trans youth, targeted politicians and journalists who might want to hold people accountable.

I agree with all the above. But at this moment I am most anxious to do more. Anxious in both senses of the word. I am eager to not let our nation leap backward. Yet at my age I am worried that I may not be up to doing what we all need to do.

What do we need to do? More!

If we have been compassionate and concerned about those vulnerable refugees, pregnant women, trans kids, and politicians and journalists, then now is the time to put that compassion to work in immediate and effective ways to stand with and protect them. It’s time to do more!

If we have been passionate about the environment, voting rights, and using America’s might to support diplomacy and end wars, then we must put concern into action. We need to do more. We must write more checks, speak and write more words, organize politically, and just plain agitate.

If we care about those who live with bombs dropping on them in Gaza, Lebanon, and Ukraine—those with nowhere to hide--then we must now do more for mercy’s sake.

If we believe in democracy that can only be strong with diversity, equity, and inclusion, then we must do more than simply believe. We must act.

I am now ashamed of America, that we should so easily be fooled—that so many Americans should  believe in lies, and in the ways of division and fear. But I must do more to help Americans hear and heed their better angels.    

I am ashamed to look at the Dow Jones stock report that showed a 1,500 point rise this morning, no doubt because those who make their money from investments are now counting on lower taxes for themselves,  less regulation, and less money in the federal budget for social programs for those who live by wages. However, I must do more than be ashamed since I myself profit from this aberration in our economy because my pension rides with the market. So I must see to it that my gains be plowed back into the vital non-governmental programs that provide food, clothing, shelter, autonomy, and dignity to those most in danger.

I am anxious. I’m eager to do more. But I’m also worried I will come up short. I will inevitably come up short. So I must also trust more in God’s forgiveness and God’s power to forgive my shortcomings and renew my strength.

For the sake of my beautiful family, and God’s beautiful world, I must overcome my worries and do more.

And I invite all who follow Christ to do the same.