Numbers

Numbers fascinate me and comfort me.  I look to numbers when the world doesn't make sense.   I was attracted to accounting as a profession, because of the balance sheet.  You have to make an entry on both sides of the ledger for every transaction.  A very orderly system to make sense of a disorderly world.

I moved away from the safety of numbers to the chaos of humans when I moved from Accounting to Environment, Health and Safety.  But I returned to numbers in my profession to make sense of the things that went wrong, the things that damaged people or the environment.  I believed data could show a better, safer path forward.

When I am scared, or stressed, I turn to numbers.  Data is serene.  Data is emotionless.  Data is constant, in that it always exists.  I do crochet that involves constant counting when I need to quiet my mind.  Numbers are meditative for me.  So, because I have to remain calm and strong in a scary world, I am looking to numbers.

I did a little exercise yesterday.  I looked up the population of the United States.  The last official numbers I could find were from 2014.  The population listed for the United States in 2014 was 318.9 million people.  The number of people that voted for the president-elect was 59.6 people.  That means that 259.3 million people did not vote for him.

I know not all of the 318.9 million people are eligible voters, but they are still people.  So, basically one in five Americans voted for the president-elect.

I know a lot of you are heartsick about what is says about the United States that a man that presented himself as racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, and a bully could get elected President of the United States.  Well, here is where the numbers make sense to me.

We all know one in five people will remain silent in the face of bullying, and hatred, and meanness, if they believe that it doesn't impact them, or that by remaining silent they will get something that they want.

I believe that most of us, if we do honest self-reflection, have a moment in our lives when we were silent when a wrong was committed against another human being.  And that many of us choose to never forget that moment so that we never make that mistake again.

My point?  I believe that many of the people who voted for the president-elect chose to look away from the bullying, and the racism, and the misogyny, and the xenophobia because they felt he was offering them something they need.

We are all guilty of working in our own self interest at times.

Please try as hard as you can to not make this election result a referendum on the basic decency of your neighbors.  Most people are decent.  Many people choose to look past what makes them uncomfortable if they feel like a greater good is served.

I personally think America made a huge mistake.  I think that the platform of the Republican party will be bad for our nation, and for many of our nation's citizens.  That is why I voted for the flawed Democratic candidate.  It was because the Democratic platform more closely aligned with the things I value.

But to call everyone who voted for the president-elect wrong, or racist, or bad doesn't get us anything but more anger, more hate, and less opportunity to fix what is broken.

I know that today I have a much deeper obligation to many of my friends and family to protect them.  I have a deeper obligation to not be silent about injustice.

But if I start from a position of not respecting that everyone does what they do for what they feel are valid reasons, I have no hope of finding common ground, no hope of moving to a place of more love and inclusion instead of a place of hate and fear.

I don't have to agree with you or see your perspective to still see you as an individual deserving of respect.  If your behavior informs me that you don't deserve my respect, I will withhold it.

And if i see hurtful actions towards another, I will intervene.

Remember that four out of five Americans did NOT vote for the president-elect.  There are scores of decent, loving people everywhere you look.  See them.  Unite with them.  We must take care of each other.  It is the only right answer.