I guess that I am writing here mostly because I want to remember this date, this day. I don’t know if I am going to write my opinion but I just want to remember what has happened today. To me, to the world. To the United States of America.
As you all know, the United States have just voted for their 45th President. I have always followed the elections, since I was a child. I do remember the fight between George W. Bush and Al Gore. I remember John Kerry and the first African-American President. I do remember when the Twin Towers fell. It seems like yesterday. And I do remember Bill Clinton, of course. Okay, I have always been more interested in American politics than in Italian. Easy peasy. So I was very nervous yesterday. I have followed the primary elections and the debate, I have read articles, and I felt that Trump was going to win. I don’t know why, but I knew it. Deep in my guts. Maybe I know America too well. Maybe it was just blind chance.
I didn’t want to go to bed yesterday. I was anxious because I knew I was right. I fell asleep at 1 a.m., when they were starting to receive the first data. Then I set the alarm clock at a quarter past five, but I woke up on my own at 4 a.m. The TV was still on. I started watching. And I understood that my fear and my worst prediction were becoming real. And then at 8.30 the world realized the truth.
I don’t know what will happen. I don’t really know. We just have to hope for the best, don’t we? As President Obama said early this morning (European time), the sun will rise tomorrow, no matter what. Maybe Americans are a bit more optimistic than me. Nonetheless, we gotta believe, once more time.
What I found disgusting, however, was the reaction shown by the people around me. I went to work today. I was tired and a bit destroyed. And no one – I swear NO ONE – spoke about the elections. They were speaking about some events in the school, some programs, something else. I felt completely detached from the place where I stood. I felt as if I weren’t there. I felt somewhere else. And I understood that the reality around me does not represent me. I am not where I am. Because what surrounds me does not reflect my image. I mean, something so important to me, something so important to the whole world, should have been discussed like everywhere. Instead, the world carried on. No. The world should have stopped and made a reflection about the facts. Especially at school, where teachers should have been supposed to lead pupils, to enlighten them with knowledge, to help them think. Not to carry on with the program and full stop. But that’s the system. Deal with it. I tried but … This really made me realize where I need to be.
Now it might be difficult to accept what has just happened. Many people would think that Americans just lost their minds. I don’t think so, because I can – at least in part – understand why someone voted for someone. I think it’s stupid to unconditionally love one country without taking into account its flaws. I think we should accept its flaws and its awesome values. I think there is so much positiveness in that country and I think that they could do a lot, as they have always done. Now it’s up to every citizen to decide for the best. Do the right choices for our future, for our planet, for the country. I think we should not believe in one man but we must believe in a nation, in the body of a nation. It is not all black and white.
I still want to be there. Because I have never believed in dreams. But I have believed in the American dream. In that dream of going into the woods to live deliberately. And give one’s best. No matter what.
If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.
(Henry David Thoreau)
Keep it wild and simple, U.S., keep it wild and simple.
AnaKWildness
Essential Facts of Life 