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An era is at an end.

Not of one person or president, but of some basic expectations of human conduct from the highest office in the land. 

A wise man named billy barr once said, "When I know I'm gonna fall skiing, I just sit down instead of landing on my face."

So the question is, what does sitting down look like in the Epoch of Anything Goes?

Clearly kindness, science, personal integrity and respect are useless to hold up as standards for our leaders.

Just as clearly, we must find common ground or risk the dissolution of our country. 

People are already speaking of succession and partitioning parts of the country which do not agree with the ideology of the incoming regime. Whether this gains enough support to produces results is almost a moot point because it underscores the disintegration of unity around a significant purpose-namely, One Nation under God, INDIVISIBLE, with LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL. (my emphasis)

We needn't look far to provide further examples of departure from this declaration; in fact, we can look straight to our president-elect. For in spite of what people may hope from his presidency, there were many potholes to leap along the path to supporting him. 

Potholes like meanness and threats, unethical behavior and bald-faced lying. 

So again, I ask, what does it look like for people to adapt to the changing climate without abandoning their integrity?

I know alot of people are asking this question in different ways...and answering it also. Donating money to vulnerable causes, reaching out to marginalized friends, neighbors and communities, marching the streets...but my question is more one of an intellectual, possibly spiritual nature.

How do we mentally and spiritually adjust to the shifting landscape of acceptable human behavior? Do we need to try and learn the new language or do we dive deeper into our own worlds?

I would offer that a majority of us have been flirting for years with the qualities that are now so blatantly advertised and accepted in our Leader. Not with awareness perhaps, but certainly with frequency.

An example. The Facebook. No one knew quite what to make of it 8 years ago and it was arguably a new language. First it was about photos. Then it was about statuses. Then it was trending items. Then it was news. Then it was mass opinion galvanizer. 

It happened fast and furious-no one had much time to sit back and do a meta-study on the nuances of virtual, live, interactive mass communication....and now we are presented with debates on whether Facebook needs to have a clearer set of ethics with what it allows to show up as news. We are forced to have retrospective conversations about how the cessation of real human interaction has further divided our nation.

We grow too quickly and scramble to play catch up. We end up with a President that embodies all the play first, pay later (or never) qualities of this technological boom. We find ourselves divided and at odds with friends, family and country.

So how do we make this a softer landing than the full face plant it appears to rapidly becoming?

Regardless of your politics, our Sweet Prince had some valuable advice in his last address as president

Understand democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders argued, they quarreled, and eventually they compromised. They expected us to do the same. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity. The idea that, for all our outward differences, we’re all in this together, that we rise or fall as one.

And so, I raise my glass to the Old Guard of Leaders who adhered to the message of ONE NATION, even if they did not always achieve the most perfect union. 

Now I look to you, fellow citizens, to come together with your ideas and your visions for how we can restore our country wide solidarity. How we can see the humanity in each other instead of the 'otherness'.  

Please, share your stories of finding solidarity or common ground with those you have personally 'otherized'...we need to hear them and be inspired...