Trump Voters, You Owe Our Children an Apology

If you voted for Donald Trump again, you owe my children an apology.

You owe them an apology for making them spend these critical years with a hateful, incompetent, petulant, predatory monster as their President.

For placing their safety in the hands of a rapist and felon whose entire existence revolves around his own well-being at the expense of the most vulnerable.

For unleashing the fierce tide of bullying, racism, bigotry, and homophobia they have to see in their classrooms and neighborhoods and social media feeds—because the man you chose for the third time, has repeatedly encouraged and modeled and legislated it.

For making them do shooter drills at school, because you've sanctioned a man who is fully in bed with the NRA, who’s removed barriers to mentally ill people getting guns, and who has done nothing to prevent military grade weapon proliferation into our streets.

For them seeing the terrifying images of an emboldened, violent, lawless mob terrorizing our Capitol, and of a President who celebrated them afterward.

For the inexplicable disconnect they see in a man passionately worshipped by professed Christians, while being so devoid of anything remotely resembling Jesus.

You've let my children down by thrusting them into an America that is far less secure, less compassionate, less decent, more fractured, and more violent than it was when he arrived—and because that truth alters children immersed in it.

But lest you think this is just about me, about my family, about my children, be assured it is not.

Yes, you've surely failed my children with your vote, and more so with the way you've tripled down on the toxicity released over the past decade, but you don't owe an apology to them alone.

You owe your children an apology too.

They too are inheriting this jagged, hateful, angry nation you've co-created with your vote. They too are reminded every day by him and his surrogates that honesty and integrity and empathy and kindness are of little value; that going low gets the intoxicating applause of the crowd and the affection of the ignorant.

They too will have their personalities, their priorities, their sense of safety, and their very identities formed in the crucible of this scalding hatred Donald Trump presides over and continually cultivates.

If your children one day become ill, they too will have a difficult time affording care or staying alive without going broke.

They too will have to breathe the air and drink the water and reside on the planet that Trump and his party leaves to rot.

They too will be saturated in the enmity and the callousness of this country—and make no mistake it will change who they are. It will change the way they perceive truth and the way they respect differences and the way they value people's bodies and well-being. 

And not just my children and not just your children.

You owe an apology to every child who has to spend their formative years in an America that is defined by:
fear of the other,
an epidemic of cruelty,
a poverty of decency,
a deadly allergy to facts,
a Christianity of coercion and malice,
a defiant resistance to diversity.

You owe an apology to every young woman growing up in an America where a sex offender is rewarded, where misogyny is being legislated, and where a woman’s agency over her own body is evaporating.

You owe an apology to every young man who forms his identity in a culture where men can do whatever they want to women and they will rarely be held accountable; where gentleness is a liability and brutality an asset.

Yes, this horrible stuff existed long before this election, but it's never had such a powerful and uncontested cheerleader with such an ability to ratify it all—and that's something that's on you and that you'll have to own. That's just how it is.

So yes, you can puff out your chest online, and posture and boast all you want.
You can cling to the fading lie that you've won anything here, or that you've somehow struck a blow for America or Jesus or patriotism.
You can tell me to suck it up and to let it go and to f*ck off—which I'm now quite used to.
But at the end of the day you've simply let a lot of people down:

My children.
Your children.
The children of this country and the planet.

They all have lost because you were irresponsible with one of the greatest responsibilities you've ever had in their lifetime, and now they have to live with the terrible fallout—and you owe them all an apology.

I'm well aware of what your likely response to all this will be. I don't imagine an apology will be forthcoming—so I'll apologize to them on your behalf.

Then, I'll spend every day living that apology for you.

I'll remind my children your children and all children, that there are lots of adults who still believe that people are inherently valuable and stunningly beautiful—that not all adults fear brown people and gay people and foreigners and immigrants.

I'll remind them that there are still people committed to the truth and to equality, and the richness found in diversity.

I'll do my best to make them feel safe and loved and hopeful here, even on the days that I don't.

I'll even teach them to forgive people who fail and hurt them, because I know how difficult that it is right now.

And I'll remind them that even when bad people are rewarded, doing the right thing is still the thing most worth doing.

I'll teach them that when hatred seems the most treasured currency, that love is still worth more than gold.

I'm just sorry that they have to live with something (and someone) far less than they deserve—and they didn't have to.