My Friend...

Last night, our daughter Isabela approached me:
​“Did you see what so and so posted?”
“Yes” I replied
“Can I post a comment about it?” she asked
“No” I said, “We do not want to engage in anymore battles… “
 
Anyway, a friend of ours posted something similar to this: “I voted for Trump but I am tolerant, I am not a racist, a sexist or a homophobe.”
 
Umm…
 
I can understand why people are on the defense after voting for Trump; knowing that he and his crusaders managed to intimidate and threaten every minority group, denigrate all women, among other things…
 
Although the vast majority of these voters never publicly agreed with his bigotry, they never denounced him; and that is the key “they never denounced and still voted for him!”
 
So here is a suggestion to all these people that are on the defense and want to make amends:
 
First, look around at your circle of friends and truly ask yourself:
Are any of them different than you? How diverse are they, are they gay or straight, do they practice another religion or come from a different ethnicity group…
 
If you feel that the majority of your friends look and think like you do, you are part of a “clique”, a small group of people who spend time together with shared interests in common, and readily allow others to join them; you are blocked from outside influence and have similar beliefs about people and the world.
 
That being the case, I do not have any problem, we all belong to our own “clique”, however, lack of exposure is not an excuse for intolerance toward those who hold different opinions or look different than us.
 
So my friend, I hope that from now on your actions will speak much louder than your vote; the next president has been chosen and there is nothing we can do about the choice, yet we can not become deaf or blind to his ruling; from now on we will loudly condemn xenophobia, bigotry and sexism.
 
I am optimistic that you will stay vigilant and always stand up to intolerance!