Loading ...The Day After
Award-winning Arab American author, Diana Abu-Jaber, pens this special piece for Arab America about the feeling of defeat many Americans are currently experiencing after the presidential election. She encourages readers to continue working together and to gain strength from the defeat. The day after the election is not a time to be sad. Rather, it is a time plan for the future.
Thousands of Americans across the country joined arms in the streets last night to protest the election of Donald Trump at “Not my President” protests.BY: Diana Abu-Jaber/Contributing Writer
Once upon a time, I wrote a novel. It was a story that I poured heart and soul into. For six years, I gave it everything I had, every bit of me. It was the best thing I’d ever written. And when it was done, it was rejected. Soundly and roundly.
It was shattering. It was like an earthquake bursting through my whole life. After six years of labor, it felt like my career, my goals, absolutely everything was over. I didn’t know anything about anything. I wondered what I would do with my useless self.
But that defeat was a gift—I know that now. It threw me back on myself, it forced me to think harder, to grow, it took my imagination to places I didn’t know were inside of me.
Almost before I knew what was happening, I was writing the next book. And that one was published.
Writers know what defeat is—rejection is part of the deal; it’s the price for playing. It’s the thing that makes you better and stronger. Not success. Success is good for pleasure, it might entertain you, it might even make you—for a time—happy. But, if you let it, defeat makes you. It takes you places.
This is when we get to find out what we’re made of. It’s okay to be upset, devastated, to feel all of it. But there has to be a next step. Defeat doesn’t mean anything in itself, it’s what we do with it that defines us.
Be there for your children—let them see how to deal with adversity. Don’t cancel your classes—talk to your students. Open up to your neighbors—even the ones with the opposition party’s political signs. Bear witness. Offer your compassion, your courage, and your grace. Don’t shut down, don’t move away. There is no “away.” The good fight is right here. It’s real and we are the only ones who can fight it.
From this morning on, ask yourself: what am I doing to make my community, my family, my country stronger? Ask every day: what have I learned today and how will I act on it? We must each hold ourselves accountable now. Plato said: One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.
This is, indeed, our call to action. Here is one more quote, this one from Margaret Mead: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
We are all we have. Now more than ever. Wipe your tears, make yourself some tea. And let’s get to work.