For many of us, Tuesday did not pan out like we’d hoped or expected it would. Our next president will be someone who represents something that is almost unrecognizable to us here in the Bay Area. Despite our national disappointment, and even embarrassment, there were more than a few things to celebrate at the nearer levels of government.

In Palo Alto, a new coalition of smart-growth council members wrested control from the anti-growth “residentialists”. In San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors is poised to be much more supportive of new housing. At the state level, San Francisco and San Mateo counties sent Scott Wiener — one of the region’s most outspoken proponents of housing growth and transportation infrastructure — to the state assembly.

Meanwhile, San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties chose to preserve our region’s transportation backbone. Personally speaking, practically everything I voted for passed, and almost everything I voted against lost. Under normal circumstances, I’d be overjoyed.

What we should all have learned by now, though, is that 2016 is not a year of normal circumstances.

Federal politics are outside this publication’s conventional wheelhouse, but perhaps for catharsis, perhaps to remind myself and others of the things we still can control, I wanted to put my thoughts down on paper.

As always, I’m speaking for myself. Not my employer. And certainly not our industry at large — we’re far too argumentative for anyone to ever be able to do that. That said, what I’m thinking, feeling and am about to say are sentiments shared by a healthy majority of my peers.

I know this because I’ve talked with so many of them today as a means of trying to better understand our situation. I know this because it’s borne out in how we donated throughout this campaign. I know this because of how our region has always voted. I also know this because our industry is always optimistic — it’s what drives us, and no matter what Peter Thiel tells you, practically none of us can reconcile what happened on Tuesday with that optimism.

It’s easy to get so caught up in local political differences that we can forget how much we all have in common. San Francisco and the broader Bay Area have an incredibly strong sense of identity. I would argue the biggest part of this identity is our staunch dedication to inclusiveness. We are the birthplace of modern counterculture. We are the cradle of the Gay Liberation Movement. By many metrics we are the most racially diverse region in the United States. For as much work as we have to do to close the income divide, Bay Area children born into poverty have a far better shot at success here than almost anywhere else in the nation. These things aren’t accidents — they are the result of who we are as a region.

From the Gold Rush to the most recent tech boom, immigrants — both domestic and foreign — have been a key competent of our region’s prosperity.

We are all acutely aware that opening our doors to newcomers and those different from us does not put us at a disadvantage. To the contrary, it makes us all richer. This extends to anyone hoping to make a better life for themselves, from any circumstance or background. The technology industry holds these values as well. For as much work as we still have left to do on diversity and inclusiveness within our companies, there’s a fundamental, underlying belief that when lots of different people get to try lots of different things, greatness happens.

Our boards of directors are primarily interested in reaching profitability, and staying there. This means a healthy economy with access to as many markets as possible, all over the world. This means equal rights for all potential customers to ensure we have a wide revenue stream. These incentives are not why we, as individuals, care about inclusiveness. We care about it because it’s the right way to treat our fellow human beings.

We have an obligation to respect our democratic process, and accept the legitimacy of the government institutions that facilitate our free expression. We do not have an obligation to support or condone the policies, vision, or behavior of our next president. The Bay Area rejects Donald Trump. He was defeated in San Francisco by a larger margin than we defeated George W Bush (either time.) He was defeated by a larger margin than McCain or Romney. Something (or maybe even everything) about Trump repulsed us more than any candidate in recent history. We reject this president and, more importantly, the incoherent jumble of ideas he stands for. And while we’ve lost the chance to oppose his presidential bid, but we haven’t lost the opportunity to oppose the world his supporters imagine he’ll bring about.

Trump may soon have control of our national political agenda, but we’re still the masters of our own domain. We can still lead by example and provide an alternative version of the story we tell about ourselves as Americans.

We see absolutely no issue reconciling our guiding vision for the Bay Area with a strong rebuke of Trump’s America. As far as we’re concerned, we don’t need to be made great again. We’re already great, and will become greater still. But if we want that future, we have to choose. Every day and every year. Our housing crisis threatens our ability to accommodate more residents. Fighting to solve it means opening our doors to those looking for a place that welcomes them, no matter who they are. It means making a place for all of us.

If we want to be that great alternative, that shining beacon of hope, we must literally make more room for the disenfranchised seeking refuge as well as the disenfranchised already within our midsts.

By setting our level of below-market-rate housing minimums at the level recommended by the the City Controller, and going all-in on new housing developments at that level, we can make space for tens of thousands of new residents from all walks of life, seeking a place to live that will not judge them for anything but their character. By creating a subway and bicycle network that rivals those of the great global cities, we can lead the way on sustainable transportation and show the world why San Francisco is still the City that Knows How. We can do all this and set the leading example for what a place looks like when we make everyone, from all races, religions, sexualities, and walks of life, a part of our success. Let’s all remember that we’re on this roller coaster together. The sun still rises over Mount Diablo and sets over the Farallones. We have a common vision, and it’s not defined by anyone but us. Never stray from it.