Listening is the first step to understanding

After many days of reading many Facebook posts concerning our recent presidential election my personal thoughts are as follows:

1. Those who voted for Donald Trump are not: homophobic, bigoted, racist, sexist, xenophobic, jingoistic, uneducated simpletons. There is a chance that some are, not all.

2. Those who voted for Hillary Clinton are not: invested liars, emotionally misguided, void of logic and reason. There is a chance that some are, not all.

3 Those who voted for another option need to be respected for their choice, if they choose to share it. They exercised their civic responsibility just as much as those who voted for the two representing our 'major parties.”

4. If one engages in: vote-shaming, public name-calling, belittlement ask yourself: 'how do my actions help our society?” 'How does this make me look and sound?”

5. If you cannot understand why people are almost inconsolable, perhaps you should listen to them in an attempt to understand why. If you are asked, 'why you are inconsolable,” simply responding 'you'll never understand” ends communication before it even begins.

6. If you believe that it is now time to 'heal the wounds of this campaign,” perhaps you should listen to those who truly believe that cannot happen overnight, given the toxicity of what just ended, still exists and has always been a part of our society. The President-Elect for over two months, to say nothing about over his decades in the entertainment spotlight, uttered some of the most grotesque things about: women, Muslims, Hispanics, Black-Americans, the poor, Asians, our LBGTQ brothers and sisters, our elected officials, war heroes (the list can go on and on). Some may never heal from his putrid actions and words. This must be recognized.

(Again) in my opinion: all elected offices are bigger than the people who enter them. If one studies our electoral history, the electoral college v the popular vote has been a point of contention in more than (just) one election. No matter what our social or familial relationships may be, as members of our civil body politic, I have respect for each human being and until my last breath I will always truly believe in the first three words of our Constitution: 'We the People.”

Please allow those who are hurt to heal because the Former Secretary of State lost and please stop demeaning people who you assume (or factually know) voted for the current President-Elect. Never forget that what connects each and every one of us is our humanity and decency for all living things.

' Eric M. Thompson serves as the Director for The Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success in Cedar Rapids.