I found myself Wednesday morning in the same boat as half of the USA who voted in the 2016 presidential election: sad and shocked. It was easy to read all the things that at first blush made sense. Candy for the brain in the form of statements being made declaring everyone who voted for Trump to be racist, sexist, misogynistic, xenophobic, backwards, illiterate… the list of adjectives were nearly endless. I saw posts from others saying “Why aren’t all these people who threatened to move to Canada going to Mexico? Oh… WE know.”
I needed to step away from the internet for a while, at least in as much as I could. So, I did.
I worked on some things at the office. Mindless paper wrangling that allows my mind ample time to ponder this new situation. And, clear as day, a thought popped into my head, “Seek first to understand…”
Knowing I’d heard the quote before, I searched for that snippet, and immediately results filled the page with the full quote from Stephen Covey, the one and the same who wrote the book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People“.
“Seek first to understand, and then to be understood” Dr Stephen Covey
It was then that I had a small, “Ah ha” moment. It did no good to wallow in sadness and shock. What was done was done. It would be easy to lash out blindly to verbally wound those who “made this happen”, but that would be irrational. And, I don’t like irrational behavior.
So, I’d like to understand why people feel that Trump was the better choice. Yes, I find his actions and words repugnant across the board, but I have always preferred to understand motivation of one’s actions and words than accept them with a flippant, “That’s just how they are.”
So, I’ll ask questions when appropriate and read what I can in my attempt to make sense of what appears nonsensical.
And while I do that, I’ll still condemn the words and actions of those who continue to perpetuate fear in the form of racism, sexism, misogyny, and xenophobia. After all, if I am first seeking to understand, I want it to be understood that kind of ugliness has no place in this world.
Musings of the Amusing Muse 
I find it disheartening how many people swallowed the stories put out by the mainstream media without truly discovering the complete story. The accusations have proven to be false and his quotes taken out of context while those racist, sexist, and misogynist comments from Hillary that have been recorded by the media go ignored. All of this crap was a huge distraction away from the real issues that face our country and affect people every day. Supporting lawful immigration and national security is not xenophobia. Once again his words and intent was distorted to fit a negative narrative. Trump is offering real solutions to the real problems this country is facing; whereas, Hillary will just perpetuate the same proven failures tried for decades. For brevity’s sake, I’ll refrain from going through them all. Also, her proven corruption and disregard for national security should be a reason to disqualify her by everyone. Trump’s popularity is because people are tired of the cronyism from both parties in DC, and we want a change. This was not an election about Democrat or Republican. It was an election about perpetuating the cronyism or trying to clean the swamp. We need to take back our government and Hillary Clinton was not the candidate offering that choice. I’m impressed with the growth Trump has made over the past few months. He’s realized that his New Yorker demeanor does not play well in the rest of the country. I’m optimistic for our future, and pray that he can unite and not continue to separate our country.
Your comment is so true so real and understood by so few.
I should also say I did not support Donald Trump I do understand why some people did.
Thank you for all the comments, Earl! I think it is just better to try and understand things than to continually wonder.
Thank you, Sir. Your view has been helpful. I’m hopeful things work out well, however, across the whole playing field, voters believed thousands of rhetorical and out-right false articles because they chose not to fact-check, or see if the news source was an actual news source. So, yes, immigration reform and national security based upon actual facts – good; based upon fear and rhetoric – bad.
This is going to be a wait-and-see situation.
Awesome post. It is your thoughtful conviction that makes you such an incredible person and I joy to read. Thanks so much for sharing this honest expression of you feeling and experiences.
I have arrived at the same place you find yourself . . . confused, but trying to understand. Also trying not to lash out as my first reaction — there are reasons. I fear what lies “just under the hood” of many of those reasons, but they’re there.
And sometimes, you need to take a step back before you can make a step forward.
I just really, really hope this step backward isn’t off a cliff.
Agreed. Right now with all of the crack-downs on fake “news” sites, revelations that much of what people thought was fact and isn’t… it’s going to be a bumpy and interesting ride.
One of my big reasons for voting against Mrs. Clinton was how the email scandal was handled. You see, I have worked for defense contractors, including the one loosely portrayed in “Falcon and the Snowman”, and though I’ve never held a security clearance, HR teaches all employees that those who mishandle classified information can expect to have a quick, unpleasant meeting with HR followed by an even more unpleasant meeting with the FBI. Even leaving a document on your desk in a secured work area counts, or simply allowing a person without a clearance into a secured work area. If it gets bad enough–say thousands of documents are on your private, unsecured, server–you get to skip the meeting with HR and go directly to the FBI.
So when Mr. Comey dismissed the complaints without as much as convening a grand jury (needed to get more information/subpoenas) or interviewing Mrs. Clinton under oath, it was clear that Mrs. Clinton represented something of a “fix” in place against the honest administration of justice, a whole culture trained to look the other way as it were.
I’m no fan of Trump in general and his reckless statements in particular, but this, along with remembering the scandals of the 1990s–how the head of Bill’s “bimbo eruptions” team qualifies as a champion of women is beyond me–made my decision.
Thank you, Bert. I appreciate your offering your thoughts. I agree with some of what you said – but, now that we have VP-elect Pence attempting to bar looking into his emails – I’m guessing a precedent was already set back in the Bush/Cheney/Rove era as we’ve had so many elected officials whose emails have been investigated and let off without much repercussion.