Standing our ground

These days, a brisk winter chill is seeping into the weather forecast. Every morning before school and work, Lily and I are jumping rope outside in the parking lot of our apartment for around 10 minutes. Our Christmas tree is up, decorated last week on Labor Day Thanksgiving 「勤労感謝の日」(kinrou kansha no hi). We're all ears as Santa's helpers, listening to what hint Lily might provide for her Christmas present wishes.

In America, as well as across the globe, people are worried that this tangerine-haired buffoon named Trump has taken over our beloved country and is giving crazy, white supremacist extremists like Steve Bannon and Sen. Jeff Sessions reins of our government and courts. Meanwhile, Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party Presidential candidate and unsung hero for American democracy, is leading the charge to recount the votes in at least Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Like the archangel Micheal, she is casting lies out and championing truth into the voting process.

There is no doubt in my mind that life will continue, albeit begrudgingly due to the return to the Dark side of racist, discriminatory ideology at the top. Those of us who fight for freedom, love inclusion and tolerate, no, celebrate the wide array of differences among fellow human beings must remain to fight the treachery and dogmatic xenophobia that is represented by Mr. Trump. We must stand with the Water Protectors of Standing Rock and say no to the Dakota Access pipeline. We must say "no" to the destruction of sacred lands, "no" to the betrayal of treaties between sovereign Native nations and the U.S. and "no" to the corporate indiscriminate greed that is fueling this push for more fossil fuels. We are better than those things. We are our own salvation.