"Do the Right Thing"

I have spent the last 48-ish hours helping 150+ high school students make sense of the political chaos that now surrounds us. I talked with all six of my classes about the results of the election and I prefaced each talk with I am not here to tell you what to think. I also told them I would not share who got my vote (although I did admit to voting mainstream), I would not comment on my thoughts of Trump as president, and I felt Hillary conceded the presidential race in a very classy manner.

We live in North Dakota, a solidly red state, but that does not mean we unquestioningly follow the doctrine of a certain political party. I am not here to say I voted red and I am not here to say I voted blue. I will say that I chose to cast my vote as I did because I researched, discussed, and agonized over how to make the best use out of the political voice that was given to me.

What ensued in all six of my classes was any number of questions, some of genuine wonder, some of well-intended misunderstanding, and some with no other purpose than to just stir the pot. In one of my senior classes, a young man, who has been vocally pro-Trump for the entirety of the school year, commented that he couldn't believe a Hillary supporter was standing at a protest holding a sign that said "Do the right thing!" He couldn't believe how somebody could hold such a sign in that particular circumstance. My heart skipped a beat and I honestly had tears come to my eyes because I was sitting at the front of a room of completely silent high school seniors, some of whom voted in this election, looking at me for a comment and reaction. I looked this young man straight in the eye and said,

"You sure as hell* better do the right thing."

I continued with some form of "Regardless of who you voted for or who you desired to win, you have the responsibility as a decent, contributing human being to do the right thing in every situation life places before you. Your political affiliation cannot, under any circumstance ever in your life, dictate your decency as a human being. You owe it to yourself and to those around you to do the little things each day to make this country the best it can be and, in turn, the world the best place that it can be. I would fail you as a teacher and as a fellow citizen if I did not expect that best from myself and each one of you simply because an election may not have panned out as you desired."

I am not proud of myself for using such language, but I was so caught off guard. I am still sad, and at the same time I still feel the bubbles of anger in the pit of my stomach, that I have 17 and 18 year old young men and women who are processing this election in terms of "right and wrong," "good and bad," and "me versus you." That is exactly where our country is going to fall. As a Christian, as a teacher, as a female, as a white person-- I now feel a greater responsibility than ever before to cultivate a next generation who is not only competent, but caring. And wise, gracious, aware, discerning, responsible, and all those other good qualities we want in our fellow citizens.

I really don't even know how to end this post. I just keep chewing on this conversation and so many of the others I had with my students these last two days. I feel a greater responsibility to live my life with even more intention because (my relatively) little ones are watching. Granted, the "right thing" may look different for each of us at different points in time, but human decency is pretty much always the same. If we don't want to have this same mess of division and accusation in four years, that change needs to start now.

**Now, part of the beauty of teaching seniors is that they really are young adults and sometimes the language reflects the more mature age (even though the seniors aren't as mature as they think). While this was not my finest moment as a teacher, I have come to understand it may be one of my most effective.