Here’s my hope. This last election is not representative of humanity. It is representative of a part of humanity–a part that has been aggressively chased away through rapid enlightenment resulting from unprecedented accessibility of information.

Except that this part of humanity hasn’t gone away. Instead, it’s been backed into a corner, far too quickly, and like a scared dog it is biting out in desperation.

As my friend Elizabeth Miller put it (correct me if I’m paraphrasing incorrectly), it’s the last desperate attempt of the figurative “old, white male” to maintain power against liberal and progressive ideas that have pushed too far, too fast.

I think we’ll suffer some backlash over the next few years, but I’m hopeful that after that we’ll see even more healthy progress for humanity than ever before.

Unless he launches the nukes before then…

People want free things badly enough that they will pay money for them. They also like saving money, and they will hand over large sums of money to do so.

Here’s a helpful observation for parents, or rather suggestion to make observations, from Brene Brown’s book: Daring Greatly. I find it important to ask myself these sorts of questions without moral judgments or self-shaming, but rather as self-checks to ensure my behaviors and teachings line up with my values.

“As parents, we help our children develop shame resilience and worthiness by staying very mindful about the prerequisites that we’re knowingly or unknowingly handing down to them. Are we sending them overt or covert messages about what makes them more and less lovable? Or are we focusing on behaviors that need to change and making it clear that their essential worthiness is not on the table? I often tell parents that some of the most destructive covert messages that we send our children stem from the feminine and masculine norms . . . Are we overtly or covertly telling our daughters that thin, nice, and modest are prerequisites for worthiness? Are we teaching our girls to respect boys as tender and loving beings? Are we sending messages to our sons that we expect them to be emotionally stoic, to put money and status first, and to be aggressive? Are we teaching our sons to respect women and girls as smart and capable people, not objects?”