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So, there appears to be some feelings going on over the election. Portland descended into chaos, but Portland is always in a state of chaos, so that’s normal. Seattle had some protests too. What struck me as kind of funny about Seattle is that not long ago they were gathered in the same place as May Day protesters, anarchists. A few months before that they were Occupy Everything protesters. Yesterday they were President elect Trump protesters. I’m starting to believe Seattle just has a resident group prepared to take to the streets for any cause.

I really love democracy, our right to gather and assemble, our right to make our grievances known on a public street, but it was a bit sad to watch the confusion and listen to what people were saying, like Democracy didn’t work. The election was stolen. The people’s vote didn’t count.

It all struck me as very sad because there’s such a lack of leadership, a lack of education, a lack of guidance. There’s no understanding of how our country works, no awareness that other people may not share your vision and that they have a right to different views. There were the usual cries of “uneducated and racist,” with no recognition of what a stereotype that is, how demeaning and dismissive of your fellow citizens. If you truly want to understand what happened in the election,than you need to sit down and talk with some of those “uneducated imbeciles” you would deny a voice to.

Sad too, an entire public school in Seattle walked out in protest, and while protesting is certainly a democratic right, so is an election and honoring the fact that the people have spoken. Our kids are not learning that anymore, nor are they learning to respect other views, or how to exist in a world that may not always agree with you.

I must be getting older because my patience for such things is growing shorter.

I have a flag that was getting a bit tattered, rather than red, white, and blue, it was looking a bit pink, orange, and gray. So I took it down and washed it because that is what women do, we wash things. I also have a child who is smart, defiant, and prone to chaos and disorder. She has piles of laundry everywhere, and stuff, and it all makes me very crazy. I came home yesterday and there on top of the heaps of laundry, was the most beautifully folded flag, this perfectly pressed triangle, set so respectfully on top the mountain of mess.

I had forgotten she knows how to fold a flag. That little tattered bit of pink, orange, and gray handled so respectfully and carefully, set on top of the chaos of our lives meant the world to me.

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