A Year in Review: What Hillary's loss meant to us.

This post was written in early 2017, but I forgot to publish it and only recently came upon it. Sorry about that.
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This isn't meant to be disrespectful, it is meant to point out the values that this country seems to carry, from my point of view.

Last year on November 8th (2016), the country, if not the world, was... shocked. Perhaps pleasantly so, perhaps unpleasantly so. I just happen to live in a pocket of the country that aligns with very left-leaning principles, and I myself lean left. Most of the people I know really disagree with all that is Trump. On the morning after the election, heck, I got a couple of consolation hugs unprompted, and within a week our school sent out a letter addressed to staff, parents and students that outlined a couple of incidents of racism and bigotry that were perhaps spurred by the recent event, and the school was very firm in its opposition to such speech, and its zero-tolerance for harassment. That was, of course, a momentary change in the flow of our first-world, privileged lifestyle, and most people forgot about the events that transpired, and I, for one, started to find Trump jokes the low-hanging fruit that I couldn't laugh at wholeheartedly anymore (regardless of your political alignment, you have laughed at a joke about Trump's hair or wives or whatever - you know it). 

Low-hanging fruit.

Let's rewind and set that record straight. The 45th President of the United States is the butt of so many wide-ranging, constantly updating jokes by any comedian or... well, human, that jokes about him are literally low-hanging fruit. 

And for the longest time, I didn't understand why people support him. I still have trouble to this day, and I think my background and personal political views get in the way of bridging that thought. That understanding is necessary to function alongside people who do support Trump, since they are people just like me: neighbors, family, friends. Do I have to agree with them? No, of course not. But how would I ever get them to see my side of the debate, and perhaps broaden their mind (and mine) and convince people if I don't know who I'm dealing with? It seems like a simple philosophy. Sympathy changes hearts.

This being said, here's my perspective. At first, I was shocked. Then I was angry, and in disbelief. Then, I was in denial about what was going on. But eventually I just knew there's nothing more anybody could do about the title Trump earned himself. And did I pity Clinton? I mean, to a certain extent, yes. She had it under control. Everybody who supported her, like me, believed that she was going to win. The night before the election, I remember the resounding thought was "How could she possibly lose to... well, Trump?"

Why did I think this? Well, what had Trump proved himself to be? 

I now see him as a cleverer man, who managed to prove that America would rather elect anything than a woman in a year like 2016.

And thus, to conclude, perhaps this is after all meant to be disrespectful to those I cannot quite respect, but perhaps understand a little better after thinking about it. Perhaps an effort to understand would be repeated, and reciprocated.