A Hopeful Message For Those of Us Who Voted Blue...

I want people to realize and think about something: if you, like I, felt like you woke up in a country you don't recognize on Wednesday, think about the following truth, and take heart, though I do believe we are in for a long national nightmare. We can draw strength from this fact: Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.

She lost the election, but won the popular vote. She lost due to our electoral college system, which is a part of our Constitution. So Trump did win the election. I'm not arguing that. I'm saying to those Americans, like myself, who are horrified, and terrified for our country, that realizing that *more Americans voted for Clinton than for Trump* can help us. It can help us feel less like foreigners in our own country.

More Americans voted for Hillary's message, plans and platform than voted for Trump and what he stands for. So take heart. Look around you. You are still home. You're not in a foreign country. The majority of the American people want and voted for a progressive, inclusive healthy society. It's just that, due to a complex constitutional construct called the electoral college (which has pro's and con's, and can be argued for or against, but it is certainly the law of the land right now, so Trump certainly won the election), we did not prevail in this election. We are the majority, though.

So keep your heads up, your hearts hopeful and your spirits strong. Also keep your voices speaking, eloquent and substantive. Our time will come. To paraphrase one of my heroes, Martin Luther King, Jr., I may not get there with you, but we as a country will get there. We are going to have to go through some dark times now (<---back to me--I'm not paraphrasing MLK on that last statement), but you know what the cliche says--and cliches don't make it to cliche status without containing truth: it's always darkest before the dawn.

Twitter version: hang in there, friends, you are not alone. You are the majority of America.