On the Eve of.

Returning from a brief hiatus, the imminent changing of the guard is on my mind. Being true to this blog’s focus on the philanthropic side of things, it is hard not to notice how donations have poured in to the incoming administration, ostensively for the inauguration festivities. Hundreds of millions have been given to support and celebrate a man who is a convicted felon of business as well as sexual crimes.

Philanthropists, including a bunch of tech bros - wealthy women are strikingly absent in fawning over the new leader - have outdone themselves by ostentatiously and blatantly currying favors with the new president. Other wealthy individuals are not even hiding how they are ready to throw all ethical concerns overboard and go for the shiny and the opulent. And the influential.

Women have been gathering since the election, to support each other and readying for the specter of a perpetrator-in-chief, who has several underlings bearing the same epithets. The majority of nominees for posts in the administration are men, overwhelmingly white, and several of them former convicts as well as credibly accused of assaults against women, of alcohol abuse, and racism.

It is on the eve of many things. Of a future that is filled with uncertainty for the respect of human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights, immigrants’ rights; the caretaking of our environment; the respect for a fair and decent chance to live a full and free life regardless of sexual orientation or beliefs; the right to vote, and not starve in the richest country on earth. Taking away reproductive rights was only the beginning.

I have been quiet on this blog since the election in November; the pause was out of despair and confusion, and in disbelief that so many chose to include so few. I needed to center myself around what this shift meant. As a white, and in so many ways privileged, woman in the U.S., my life is nevertheless no longer mine to rule over. I am fearing for all young women, who no longer have the right to decide their own fate.

This is the eve of. Tomorrow I will fully celebrate the resistance of what’s in store for the next four years. I will reach out to try to understand those who have different beliefs than I, who believe that this was for the best. And, I will keep checking in on the philanthropic sector, as it adjusts to a new society that premieres money and power; seeking to mend frailty and vulnerability, not so much.

But most of all, I will continue to adapt, ask questions, and reflect; on this eve of.

Photo. Damir K. via Pexels.