Amidst the wailing and gnashing of teeth, liberals, Democrats, and even Republicans have to face their worst fear.

President Donald Drumpf.

There is nothing we can do about that. Indeed, there is nothing that we SHOULD do about it, except to hope that Drumpf’s supporters have made a good decision.

Disappointment is understandable and human. In a race this contested, in a country this divided, it is hard not to frame things as “winners and losers”. Certainly, Donald Drumpf is KNOWN for preferring that sort of binary comparison.

But, if you are opposed to Drumpf, you should know better. The world is not black and white; it is a spectrum.

The fact is, if Drumpf is everything we fear, then all of America will suffer.

The same as if Hillary would have been everything that Drumpf supporters feared.

After all, this was a race that was framed in absolutes and catastrophism. According to either side, if the opposition was victorious, it was a sign of the Apocalypse.

But that being the case, the opposite is also true.

If Hillary voters were right about Hillary, then AMERICA would win.

Likewise, if Drumpf supporters are right about Drumpf, America has won.

I am not Kreskin. I am not a prophet. I am rather pessimistic about President Drumpf’s ability to heal this nation. But he’s got every advantage now, and there’s nothing I can do except to continue to advocate for good decisions. So, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Maybe I’m right about Drumpf, but I hope I’m wrong. Because… we’re about to find out either way.

So… what does this really change about how we as anti-Trumpers should behave?

The answer is, of course, not a damn thing.

Equanimity. With no other path available, make the most of the path you are on. THAT is the value that drives my liberal AND conservative positions. Do the best you can with what you’ve got and don’t bother worrying about the outcomes you cannot guide.

So what if the worst happens? There is nothing I can do about Drumpf. The world is not as I wish it to be; this is not news. The world has never been as any of us have wished it to be. This is why you must BE the change you wish to see in the world. This is why you cannot change anything. You can only lead others in the direction you wish, and hope they will follow.

“But Drumpf is going to ruin ALL of the progress we have made as a country!” I hear you scream into your keyboards.

Perhaps.

And perhaps if he does he paves the way for a more solid foundation for the change we all hope for.

Whatever Drumpf and his supporters do, however they choose to behave, this has nothing to do with us. Just as, whatever you choose to do, however you choose to behave after you read this article has nothing to do with me.

As individuals, we have choices to make regarding our priorities.

For my part, my priorities mirror Seneca’s, as the Stoics seem to have a handle on living a loving life full of contentment:

“A good society and a well-governed state are goals which we should do our utmost to achieve. But our success in achieving them is a purely ‘external’ matter, of secondary importance at most. It is still possible in the vilest society and the worst political conditions, as Socrates and Cato proved, for individuals to live good lives. And the good life lived by the individual is what counts”

- Seneca — Moral and Political Essays. Edited and translated by John M. Cooper and J. F. Procopé, Cambridge University Press, 1995, location 308