What. A. Week…..

Oy.
Vey.
What a week.

I’ve felt elated, let down, disappointed, loved, supported, hated, celebrated, and isolated. All this and so much more in just a few short days.

It started when I was on DWDD talking about what it’s like to be the only one in my family voting for Hillary. Lots of reactions came in on Twitter after the show. Apparently people now either want to date me or kick me out of the country. Lovely.

Then I started vlogging for VROUW for de Telegraaf. I’m the worst vlogger ever. I don’t know how to hold the camera, I vlog in the dark, forget to put on makeup or check my hair (I live without mirrors as much as possible) and I show books upside down. Excellent. My vlogs have created a new group of haters (or should I call them ‘floggers’? Apparently I’m the biggest fake ever, and my vlogs should come with a bucket to vomit in…) and a new group of friends (as I’m also a shining example of humor and optimism). Such an interesting phenomenon….

And then we all know what happened.

Trump’s win affected me deeply. I was angry, shocked, surprised, frightened, and ashamed. Getting a text from my brother the day after, saying ‘Hillary Clinton is the most disgusting person on the planet’ did not help.

I thought of how I could deal with this the best – in the only way I know how, and that was to fight it with love.
I made a little film about it which was shared 50+ times on the first day it was posted on my social media. And so far, I’ve been putting  my Love Agenda into action. Every day I think now even harder about what I can do to spread compassion on a daily basis. And I share what I’m doing with others. And I think the first tiny waves of a ripple effect just might have started.

A colleague told me she saw my video while she was in the car. She got out of the car and saw a homeless person and gave a homeless person money for the first time. Someone else said they made a call seeing how they could become a volunteer for a cause they believed in. A student asked if he could sample my voice in that film to use in his song to reach an even broader audience.

I am trying so hard to understand what happened, and how.
I want to spend more time talking-to people I love who have very little common ground with me when it comes to politics. Hate the vote, love the voter, right?
Right?

I’m going to try.
It’s not easy.

When someone calls Hillary ‘a Communist Lesbian’ (which someone in my family recently said, to my face), it’s very (OMG VERY) hard to maintain a peaceful, loving dialogue.

But I’m going to try.
My god, I have to try.

If I stop trying to understand, what kind of world will that create?
One even worse than it is now.

Let’s keep trying to understand.
Keep trying.

X buffi