I’m Scared!

I’m scared. That is not a phrase I say very often, but I really am. Our President-Elect is a celebrity. I enjoy watching him say, “You’re fired!”, and I like his ambition and his willingness to try and fail. It makes for a good entrepreneur, but are those good attributes for a President? I don’t know.

Now let me explain why I’m scared. Not because he’s going to deport us all, not because he’s going to build a wall or cause an economic breakdown. We’ve been in similar situations and we survived just fine. I’m scared because Mr. Trump is a hot head. He speaks before he thinks. He has no censorship and sometimes he says things that are not acceptable. Whether he means any of it or not becomes irrelevant. As an adult, I can look the other way, I get it, I understand politics; he just needs a good Public Relations Manager. Unfortunately, my children don’t fully understand. This is the first election that they are old enough to be a part of, or at least follow closely.

My oldest son is 10-years old. This age is difficult. He begins to understand self-respect and better comprehends respect for others. We have tried our best to teach him morals, values, and chivalry. Way to go Mom! (and Dad!) Then comes Mr. Trump with his “locker room” talk and his disrespect for woman and people of different ethnicity. How can I show my son how a man should act when one of his biggest role models, the President, lacks basic man qualities? Of course his father is his number one role model and a great one at that, but like many children, he looks up to the most powerful man on Earth, the President of the United States. I have made it clear to him that Mr. Trump’s behavior is unacceptable. At this point all we can do is pray that Mr. Trump finds a better way to  express his thoughts and tries to better address the nation.

Mostly, though, I’m scared for my daughter. She’s 9 years old. She looked up to Hillary. Hillary represented female empowerment. She was a product of hard-work, education, and experience which lead to success, words that are rarely used to describe women in  politics or the business world. See I’m trying to raise my daughter to be strong, independent, and confident in her own abilities. Way to go Mom! (and Dad!) Hillary’s loss was not the worst part, accepting defeat is important, the worst part was losing to a man who expressed himself so poorly towards women. This was hard for my daughter to comprehend. “Why Mom? Why do they want this horrible man to be President? He’s a disrespectful person and a bully!” I know he is, my princess, but that’s just the way it turned out. Again, the best we can do is reassure her that no man is superior, no man has the advantage, and she is fully capable of achieving anything!

Regardless of whether you supported Trump or Hillary, this election was definitely one for the books. So much controversy, so much media coverage, and such a divided nation. I’m confused, curious, scared but also hopeful. May the Lord protect this great nation!