Ok, the election is over. Now what? This is a great time to consider what this country should become and it starts with you.Roughly 120,000,000 people voted: Trump won the electoral race, Clinton the popular vote. Clearly, America is divided. What we do next, as “winners” and “losers”, can help heal this country, or drive it deeper into the abyss. And Americans share more interests than we think.For Trump supporters: Here is a great chance to start the healing and rebuilding to make America greater. You have about 60,000,000 people who are devastated, sad, scared and disillusioned. They are not wrong. What do you do? The easy thing is to gloat and kick them when they’re down, but that’s unpatriotic. It’s un-American. Americans pick each other up after a defeat. They teach and learn from each other. They sympathize and, if possible, empathize with their fellow citizens. They move forward, leaving no one behind.For Clinton supporters: It was not an evil conspiracy. There are about 60,000,000 people who felt disenfranchised, lied to, betrayed and threatened. They are not wrong. You have a choice: to work with the new president, or expend energy opposing everything. The current Congress chose the latter, angering many and stalling this country. Cooperating won’t be easy, which is why it must be done. You have four years to work this out and take the high road.Some quick tips:

When disagreements arise, let’s understand the situation and focus on substantive issues
Abandon the personal attacks and superficial jabs.
Restrain from saying, “you’re wrong”, because what you’re really saying is “I’m right” and “me being right is more important than whatever we’re talking about”
Use “I” statements. “I feel this policy is bad because….”. Or, “I think the best course of action is…”
Listen. This sounds easy, but it can be difficult. The goal is twofold: to understand what the other person is saying, and to signal to them that yes, you are listening. Reframing is a good way to accomplish this: “If I’m hearing you correctly, you’re saying….” It’s not repeating what they say, but putting it your own words. If they say, “no, that’s not what I said” then ask them to explain it
Dialogue, not debate. Debate is used to determine a winner in an argument, not to find the truth or seek solutions. Dialogue is an effort to understand a situation and develop solutions. Again, this can be difficult, which is why it must be done

You may feel like you have won or lost the election. You didn’t. For a vast majority of us, we didn’t win or lose anything; we aren't moving into the White House. On top of that, each candidate will forget about you soon, if not already. It’s up to you. It’s up to us. Take back the power politicians have used to manipulate us and how we treat each other. We all want the same things: security, family, health and shelter, but differ on how we attain them. Don’t let politicians and “elites” use these differences to drive us apart. That’s not the American way.Cheers and Beers!

In everyday life, how much do you care about total strangers? It’s safe to say that you don’t really think all much about them. Apart from brief encounters (at the market, while driving, etc.), your feeling towards strangers is most likely indifference. You don’t know enough about them to like them or hate them. There’s nothing wrong with indifference. Ascribing “like” or “hate” to everyone you encounter just doesn’t make sense, but we still teach our kids to be polite to strangers.And for the most part, we are polite. We don’t really take notice of this because it is so common. What we do notice and remember, however, are the exceptions; the rude customer, a snappy waiter, or the slow poke in the left lane. Being polite, or not being rude, is the downhome American way. It’s one of America’s best attributes, and it holds up well through our differences. Even Red Sox and Yankee fans can get along…sometimes.So why do we get so worked up over Donald and Hillary? Why does the fervor over who supports whom create so much animosity and disgust? The overarching answer is simple: because we allow it. Office seekers have been playing with our emotions, identities, fears and hope for so long that we overlook their meddling hands. There is a reason why this election campaign has seen so many personal attacks by both candidates, the media, supporters and bystanders. Mudslinging is all we know these days. Politicians have skillfully maneuvered us away from the intricacies of policy, governance, foreign relations and domestic liberties, and towards the simplistic ad hominem attacks prevalent in just about every political (and many non-political) topics. And this has carried over into our social interactions, about which politicians care very little.So here we are, giving one stranger (Donald or Hillary) the absolute power to dictate how we, as individuals, treat each other. They push our buttons, buttons that they have installed on us. They diverted our attention away from issues and problem solving and onto demonizing each other under the guise of protecting us. But here’s the thing: They are only as powerful as we make them. The real power in America resides in its people, individually and collectively. The strength to listen, learn and teach. The power to innovate, invent and create.Each of us has our own agency. Our power resides in how we think, feel, behave, interact and socialize. We have the power to build, shape and improve our society. We have the power to ignore (and punish) mudslinging, to actually analyze our situations and come up with solutions. You have the power over yourself, your buttons and your attitudes to be nice, respectful and civil to your fellow citizens. We are actual power of the U.S.A. The stranger who takes office will very quickly forget us; your friends and family will not. Will indifference matter then?

Post Election: Now What?

Pre-Election 2016: The Power