A Dark Day in America

November 6th, 2024 – the sky is still up there.

It’s actually a beautiful sky in central North Carolina: mostly sunny with an occasional breeze, mid-70s. The sounds of birds chirping and planes flying in the distance is all I hear.

A device that has become common to many millions of people sits at my side on airplane mode. The world is basically the same as it was a few days ago. The birds are singing like they did before and the planes fly past like they have on so many other days. 

As long as I keep off my phone, the world around me seems just fine. Once I open it, I will see that someone believes that today is “A Dark Day in America.” This election had so many intense feelings behind it and, at the climax of it all, half the country is devastated and holds a grim viewpoint of the next few years. I know this all will happen before I look at my phone!

The only question that remains: which half?

Regardless of the answer, I know that thousands of people have already picked up their phones and posted something about how this outcome is a tragedy worthy of outrage. They are certain of the injustice that has occurred right in front of our eyes and they are warning us all to prepare ourselves for hard times ahead. They will say that today is a dark day.

Millions of people are celebrating a historic victory. They are posting their joy and relief about how we can finally begin to heal from the sickness of the mind that has been plaguing our country in recent years. They have already started posting and sharing jokes at the expense of the losing side.

Meanwhile, millions of people are sitting quietly by themselves or with their family and hoping for the best possible future. They know that political competition matters very little compared with the lives and safety of themselves and their families. It is a dark day in America for many people.

Even if I choose not to open my phone, it is still a dark day for many people. But what if those people decided not to look at their phones? What if we all vowed to not look at the election results until sometime next week? Would today still be a dark day? Would that darkness come on the day that we all agreed to look?

The sun will always rise and sometimes there will be clouds to hide its light, but the sun is still there. The clouds are temporary and the light always breaks through eventually; the same can be said about our emotions. Today is a dark day if we believe it, but the darkness will not last forever.

I know that a lot more questions await us, and we will have to face those answers sooner than we want. What will his supporters do? What will her supporters do? What does it mean for our country? What does it mean about life in the next few years?

Only time can answer those questions. Until then, let’s take a moment to recognize the reality of this dark, sunny day:

In reality, we have normalized the concept of a woman running for the highest office in the land. Two of the last three presidential elections have included a woman. The leader of a nationally recognized political organization has been a woman for the majority of the elections over the last decade. This is an undeniable and impressive stride toward equality.

In reality, we have seen that people really don’t care if someone lies to them, if they like that person. We, as a society, have demonstrated that truth does not matter as much as how a story makes us feel. We have proven that you are right as long as enough people believe you are, which means that right and wrong are subjective and don’t really exist. That is a powerful realization that can become a potent tool in the future.

In reality, we spent the most money on an election in the history of our elections, and yet millions of people are still disappointed with the result. Maybe we can rethink where we invest that money in the future. I wonder how many public projects could have been funded with the amount of money used by these campaigns to run ads that nobody wanted to watch.

In reality, there is plenty to applaud and plenty more to criticize, but it’s a sunny day in North Carolina and soon it will get colder. Then it will get warmer, and then colder again. All things pass and there will come a day when the Election of 2024 is just a memory.

Maybe you will remember exactly where you were when you got the news, or maybe you forgot the details because you chose to focus on another beautiful part of your life and to work towards improving the world directly around you. Maybe you will remember this as a day that inspired you to make a change in your life. Maybe you are inspired to get involved to help make a better world for yourself and your community. Maybe you are not alone in wanting to make a better world. 

The sky may fall tomorrow, or maybe sometime next month. But it did not fall from this election, and I doubt it will fall within the next four years, though I could be wrong! It’s your choice to believe that the sky is certain to fall soon, that today is a dark day in America. Or you could choose to go outside and enjoy the sunshine.