Most of the time when I run into someone and have a quick conversation, it goes something like this:
"Hey" "What's up? "Nothing much, you?" "I'm okay." *insert possible exchange of more pleasantries, how classes are going, what papers are due, what parties are this weekend, etc* "See you later!" "Bye"
Today, most of my exchanges were more like:
"How are you holding up?" "Not great, you?" "About as well as can be expected, I guess" *insert possible statements of shock/anger/disbelief/sadness and/or mention of what class(es) are being skipped, how much sleep was forgone, etc.* "Take care of yourself, okay?" "You too."
In general, there was an air of mourning around campus which seemed more akin to that of a national tragedy than one of an unfavorable election outcome. To be honest, I'm not sure where to go from here. In the past twenty-four hours, I've felt anxious, depressed, angry, hopeless, terrified, hysterical, and a myriad of other things that I still don't have the words for, and I know that so many others feel the same. But I do know this: we must march on.
Pick yourself up, take a deep breath, comfort and be comforted by those closest to you, and cope however you can. I don't know if we can make the world better. My confidence in humanity has been seriously shaken. But we must get up, however long that takes, so we can live on to fight for a better day. At the very least we can try to survive and thrive out of spite for those who will do anything to stop us from doing just that.
Just, take care of yourself, okay?
