So today we woke up to the news that the USA has a new president, Donald J. Trump. When Elin woke me in the night I checked my phone and it seemed like he would win, though I couldn't believe it would actually happen. As I drifted back to sleep once she was settled I had a nightmare about the election. When I woke up I discovered my nightmare had ACTUALLY come true. Like so many people today I have many questions about this could happen. It feels like a joke. I'm not Clintons biggest fan, but even her concession speech this afternoon was more presidential than anything Donald Trump could ever dream of uttering. America no longer feels like the land of the free and the home of the brave, after the most vitriolic campaigning in its History. I cried through Hilary's speech about equality, because, hot on the heels of Brexit of course, I cannot understand why there are so many people out there who would vote for the attitude to the world that Trump has conveyed in the past surreal 18 months. Don't even get me started on the viral video of him mocking a disabled journalist. And yes, I was looking forward to a female president, albeit an imperfect one. A good friend is pregnant. I think of her baby coming into the world, if it's a girl, and how she would deserve to know that anything is possible for her. In her speech, which finally drew my tears after an angry day, Hilary said " To all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable, powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity int he world to pursue and achieve your own dreams". Trump's views on women expressed so sickeningly in 'those tapes' from a few years ago could not be more of a contrast. What do we tell our daughters???
I don't, of course, have to tell my daughter anything.
Elin knows nothing of world politics, she never will. Elin has no glass ceiling to try and smash in her lifetime. Today I am glad, that my daughter knows no hate.
She knows no racism, no sexism, no misogyny, no lies, no hurt, no anxiety. She knows no betrayals, no inequality, no sadness, no despair, no war. She knows no conflict, no poverty, no death, no destruction, no darkness.
She only knows love.
She knows cuddles, laughter, support, safety. She knows warmth, humanity, fun, smiles. She knows trust, contact, music and light. She will never have to negotiate the world in the same way as she would have done in her parallel lifetime, that lifetime which slipped away from her the day she was born.
She knows no hate and never will.
We have always said this was something we could hold onto, that her life, to her is a wonderful one. Maybe we were just trying to convince ourselves a little, to make things seem ok. But today, as we went to Elin's annual school review (which was so wonderful and positive) and got to see her in her classroom playing with a parachute and the amazing staff at her school, it didn't feel like I was trying to convince myself of anything. It felt real. It felt like she was operating on a higher level of consciousness than the rest of us mortals and that she was better off of it. I felt grateful, I felt glad.
My daughter is special, a miracle. She knows no hate.
And she never, ever will.
And I thank God, at least, for that.
xxx
