“There’s a time for everything…
… a time for crying and a time for laughing,
a time for mourning and a time for dancing…
(Ecclesiastes 3:4)

Words matter.

I believe our president-elect speaks from the heart, saying what he means and meaning what he says. I trust that the promises he made during the presidential campaign will be the policies that he intends to pursue as president.

So, today I grieve.

I do not grieve for myself.

My ancestors came as immigrants to the United States from Germany and Scotland in the 19th century. I am white, male, Judeo-Christian, and heterosexual. I have a good pension and a fully funded health care plan. I have never been bullied or demeaned because of my ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender, religion, or for any other reason. I am one of the advantaged ones.

My grief is for others for whom I care, for the values I cherish, for the country I love, for our fragile and endangered earth, and for the unity and peace of the world.

I grieve for 20 million of our fellow citizens who are now at risk of losing their health insurance.

I grieve for millions of girls and women who have already been victimized by mean spirited and demeaning comments and actions that occurred during the presidential campaign.

I grieve that the path to the presidency was paved by the president-elect’s racially-tinged and unrelenting denial of our current president’s American birth, and thus legitimacy in office.

I grieve that our president-elect’s first day in office promises to include the establishment of a special prosecutor to see that his opponent for the office is put behind bars. “Lock her up” felt like a vindictive battle cry of vengeance; not a statement reflecting the mature statesmanship of a would-be president.

I grieve for the future of our planet, with a president-elect promising to tear up an international treaty on climate change, already agreed to by most of the nations of the world.

I grieve for the millions of undocumented immigrants (many children and young people born and raised in the United States) who now live in fear of being uprooted from their homes, schools, and jobs, and deported.

I grieve that we soon face the prospect of people of Muslim faith being denied admission to the United States, and the closing of our doors to Syrian refugees; victims of one of the worst humanitarian disasters in our lifetime.

I grieve that our president-elect’s intention is to appoint future justices to the Supreme Court who are committed to reversing both the current Court’s decision on marriage equality, and an earlier Court’s decision to honor a woman’s right to legally protected abortion.

I grieve for those who have already been wounded by a divisive and bitter presidential campaign, and those who face the prospect of being wounded by implementation of many of the promises made during that campaign.

Grief, however, is only for a season!

“Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.”
(Psalm 30:5)

I try as best I can to live with gratitude and hope – gratitude that the spark of human decency and love is present in all persons and in all situations; and hope that in discouraging times like these there is always the promise of transformation and healing.

May it be so!

Richard K. Ernst
November 11, 2016