Dear future hubster,
I'm sure you remember where you were when the US last elected a president.
I woke up in the house I shared with the Russian boys in the metropolis of Hatfield, having gone to bed the night before thinking I don't need to stay up all night, I have school the next day, and this is going to be boring.
As we all know now, it was not boring, and I woke up to a world in horror and disbelief, reflected in social media posts. I remember what Zyanya wrote - "the man can't finish a sentence!" -, what Yohann wrote - "So instead of Netflix & chill it's now CNN & panic?" -, what Simon wrote - "fear is a weapon of mass destruction", what Ponyo wrote - "vox populi, vox Dei" -, and, most of all, I remember that Tara's post was calm and constructive, and suggested we reflect, pause, organize, act. That was grounding thought in a flurry of "holy shit"; something I still think back on 4 years later.
Yes, these were Facebook posts and you might say they weren't important and had little added value as they didn't come from experts and in any case the whole thing had no direct personal impact on me. This is all true. Except, look, I still remember all of those things. Because emotions reinforce memories, and clearly that was a pretty emotional moment, regardless of the relevance of the messages, most of which weren't even directed at me.
So why talk about them now? Because we've just collectively had another very emotional moment, and my guess is that most of us will remember where we were when this election was called. More importantly, there are other collectively emotional moments in all our lives, memories of which we're going to carry for long years.
This why what we say and how we say it is important. Words matter, and sometimes they weigh more than we think. Sometimes they land with somebody they weren't even intended for, and have an impact we couldn't imagine. When emotions are high, hurt is deeper, and gratitude is higher. Choose your words carefully.
