In Mexico, every six years we have the same dance: three main candidates one worst than the other, full of hidden skeletons in their closets want to be president. A battle of egos. Do they want to change our country? No. Do they think about the highest good of the country? No. Do they want to see what businesses they can do, what is there for them and their party? Yes. Do they compromise their integrity (or what’s left of it) to obtain more votes to win? Yes. To win. I have witnessed one bad president after another since I was a child. I thought I had seen it all until the American people chose Donald Trump as their president.

 I could write about why I think he won, I can write about all the things that he is, and he is not, I can write about how disappointed I am. I am not going to do that because you know. You know. Instead, I am going to encourage you not to react but to act. If we react with fear, loathing this man, fearing the people who voted for him, hating the electoral system,  what is going to make us different from them, from him? We have to act with kindness, love, respect, and tolerance. We know one thing: we cannot change what already happened. The only thing we can change is the way we view it and what we can do about it now, today. The question is: what do we do? We can begin to spread love, kindness, and tolerance starting now: at carpool, at the grocery store, with strangers, with friends, with haters, and most importantly, with our families. We get involved. We build community. We help those in need. We fight back by not fighting back. We do not destroy, we build.

We plant these seeds in our children, who, by the way, will be the future voters, the future candidates for the presidency. The future citizens of the world. We model for them. We teach by example. We empower them. Do we hate Trump? No. Why waste that energy? Instead, we use that frustration and transform it into action, into positive actions. Every day we have the opportunity to help, to change the world, to contribute. Let’s take that chance. Let’s begin with ourselves and hopefully the change will spread out to our countries, to the whole planet.

Lastly, I want to leave you with one of my favorite and most uplifting TED talk that I’ve watched. I hope it inspires you as much as it inspired me.

Let’s make the world a better place!

♥,

Marcela