The morning after….

First, an admission: yes, I was wrong. The election didn’t unfold how I thought it would. There are a lot of reasons for that. We will unpack them one day soon.

Secondly, this is not a Kangaroo Politics post per se….it is not an unbiased insight into what the election means for a non-American audience.

It is something else: a personal unloading of what it means for a closer circle than that.

My hope is still that this humble newsletter may become a tool to engage a non-American audience in the trials and tribulations of American politics but for now, it is MOSTLY supported by people who know me and so forgive me this but I need to get it out and this as good as place as any..

When your belief is repudiated, there are a lot of emotions...

Anger, Fear, Hurt, Confusion, Concern, Blame, Regret, Shame...

All of them are correct.

There is no right or wrong way to feel about events that shake your internal understanding of the way the world works.

Just as they are all correct, none of them really help though.

The simple reality is that more Americans voted for a different version of America to the one that I believe is possible.

They are not absolutely wrong, just as I am not absolutely right.

There is no clear line of sight in a country as deeply enmeshed in the thick fog of disdain that American finds itself in.

Despite the political rhetoric, we have become defined by what divides us, not what unites us.

One fact though is irrefutable... We are listening and talking in the wrong proportions.

America is a nation full of souls who are waiting for their turn to speak, to get their point across, lest the populace be denied the chance to hear whatever we have to say.

Your author is as guilty of that as anybody. How can I not be with a blog and a podcast that nobody asked for but me.

We need to change that...

We need to listen more and talk less, at least until we know that there is actual inquisitiveness and empathy in our words.

Questions and comments underpinned by a genuine desire to understand rather than badger.

Until then, this country cannot heal because we are defined by our opinions not our dreams.

It is not co-incidental that the people we don't listen to the most are those that stand to be driven by fear more than hope in coming days and weeks.

Women and black women in particular, migrants, the underemployed and working poor...and many other groups.

For them, this outcome is not one defined by electoral math and hard to define motivations...it is more than that.

But instead of prognosticating about what it means for these communities and many others...I am going to practice what I preach...and listen....listen and love.

While I do, a plea: stop shouting the talking points of your side, whichever side it is.

Stop and try to see each other as people with good intent, not a force to be battled with.

Try and find commonality again, meet people where they are, not where you want them to be.

We can't all agree and elections will always be hotly contested...but if we start listening with intent a little more and leave our rhetorical weapons (both red and blue), holstered for a while, maybe we can start to find common ground.

Until then…