Within

Within the Earth there is a core of hot liquid iron that is forever churning. Right now, beneath your feet, this big ball of dark metal churns unseen by the eyes of animals or man, woman, wheel, or seraphim for the however many years the Earth has existed. I heard once that the Earth was young. The argument was made that stratigraphy, which we used to determine the approximate time of the Jurrasic era, was an invalid form of science as dinosaurs, being heavy, would naturally sink to the bottom of anything. I think about this whenever my children are playing with dinosaurs in the tub, and I'm reaching over to grab a stegosaurus that is hidden under an opaque layer of bubble bath.

Within everyone, there is an organ that you rarely see that forces blood up to your lungs and back down again to the rest of your body, forever returning back to the center, and into a continuous loop that goes on largely unnoticed except by professionals. That muscle allows your body to absorb the oxygen it needs to power the cilia and villi and all the viscera that keeps you moving forward and backward, left and right, with your arms up, down, and in really any direction.

My reaction to the election like most other people was visceral. Lying on the bathroom floor having just vomited after taking a Ranitidine for what I thought was heartburn. However, it was just hot liquid that had been churning all evening all evening all evening, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. It had been building, finally blossoming into the most gut reaction my body could manage: absolute rejection.

Rejection of the dinner I had eaten, the results coming in from wherever, nothing mattered except rejecting it all and lying there.

Many of you may have similar gut reaction– to reject what has happened.

The important thing now not to reject, not to expel, or sequester. What we must do now is accept, admit, and associate ourselves with what we want to see, rather than what is shown. I'm not arguing to ignore or imagine that things will not be bad. They will be.

When someone tells you what they are going to do, repeatedly, and with absolute clarity of an alarm bell ringing, they are to be believed.

Instead of reeling in the shock and horror of what is, focus on what could be. Focus your efforts on building your community. Provide aid to those who need it. Make sure you talk to your friends and family as much as you, or they, will tolerate.

Ensure that they understand that you are still here, still awake, and ready for the days to come.

Take care of yourself everyone,

Matthew