It’s time to focus on change and progress.

I feel disappointed that a university friend has had to make multiple calls to report racist graffiti — something she’d never done before the election. It bothers me that an phD student from India feels afraid when parking her car after she had been shouted at to leave the country… and saddened when she related a story about a Muslim friend whom was accosted and had her hijab pulled off. It’s like the election has given validity to hate, as if it’s okay to throw out of the window all the decency that we’ve ever possessed.

I don’t believe this will last, but the news is making it sound like Hillary is running some secret campaign to protest Trump, or it’s about Democrats being sore losers. But the problem isn’t so much Trump… it is what people are doing in light of him being elected. To some, he has become a symbol of acceptance of hate.

It is not who we are. Americans by and large fight for progress and equality. I doubt Trump even supports this kind of hate. Many people voted for Trump because they wanted change, not because they believed in his values. As this gruesomeness comes out, we will stand up against it, because it is not about Trump — it’s about what we value as Americans.

We need a swift slap in the face to separate out our fear of radical islam and the Muslim religion. They seem to get lumped together, which is about the same as lumping Christian fundamentalists with the entire religion of Christianity. Most of us know that they’re separate, but plenty of people don’t — and they direct their anger towards people who don’t deserve it. (Not that anger has ever solved problems, but that’s another story.)

Reading the news for 15 minutes is enough to get me down. It’s important not to bury our heads and remain ignorant to what’s happening around us — but at the same time it is easy to loose perspective.

Awesome projects are being launched on kickstarter each day, social innovation is making great strides, and people are more connected through social media than at any point in our history. There is great stuff happening. (Dude, people are building solar powered roads!) The point is, not just to read about is passively, but to take action. As we take steps to participate in improving our planet, we’ll discover that we are not alone, and the change that is happening beneath the surface, and through action this will come into light.

The world is beautiful, and we’re transforming our planet for the better with or without political change.